Germany is to earmark up to EUR900m (US$983m) in subsidies to expand electric vehicle charging stations for households and companies, the transport ministry said, according to Reuters.

The country currently has 90,000 public charging points and aims to have 1m by 2030 as it targets carbon neutrality by 2045.

Germany had around 1.2m fully electric vehicles on its roads by the end of April, well below its goal of 15m by 2030, data from federal motor authority KBA showed, Reuters said.

High prices, limited range and a lack of charging stations, especially in rural areas, are seen as the main reasons for the lag in electric vehicle sales.

The transport ministry reportedly said it would soon launch two funding programmes to support private households and companies in building charging stations with their own power supply.

Up to EUR500m in subsidies would be available from this autumn to promote electricity self supply at private residential buildings with the prerequisite that residents already own an electric car, the ministry told Reuters.

From next summer, an additional EUR400m would be earmarked for companies that want to build fast charging infrastructure for commercial cars and trucks.

Reuters noted the German government last October approved a plan to spend EUR6.3bn over three years to rapidly scale up the number of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.

The subsidies just announced on Thursday are in addition to that funding, a ministry spokesperson told Reuters.