Romania passes 10,000 public charging points as its EV fleet tops 75,000 cars
At the end of September 2026 Romania had 5,010 DC and 5,060 AC points, according to a Global Payments study. That works out to about 6.7 EVs per public charger, down from 17 in 2022.
Romania passed 10,000 public charging points for electric cars at the end of the third quarter of 2026. Over the same period, the country's fleet of fully electric passenger cars went past 75,000 vehicles, according to a Global Payments study on EV adoption and charging infrastructure in Europe.
Fast chargers have almost caught up with AC
The standout number is the mix. At the end of September there were 5,010 DC (fast) points and 5,060 AC points, so roughly half the network is now fast charging.
DC points have grown more than 30-fold since the end of 2020. Nearly 3,000 new points were added in the first nine months of 2026 alone, and the network is growing by about 33% a year.
Fewer cars per charger
Measured against the fleet, Romania now has about 6.7 EVs per public charging point. In 2022 the ratio was 17 to one.
On the car side, DGPCI registration data cited in the study show more than 7,000 new fully electric cars registered in the first eight months of 2026, about 50% more than a year earlier. Battery-electric cars now take roughly 8% of new passenger-car registrations.
Next problem: the experience at the plug
More chargers don't automatically mean painless charging. The study cites an analysis of more than 13 million European sessions: only 84.6% completed successfully, even though the hardware worked in 94.3% of cases. The failures come from authentication, payment or the handshake between car and charger.
The EU's AFIR regulation requires public chargers to offer ad-hoc payment with no contract, and new points of 50 kW or more must take card or contactless. The price, including any fixed fees, has to be shown before the session starts.
For the practical side, see our guide to the apps and cards you need to charge in Romania and our breakdown of what charging costs at home, on AC and on DC.
