How easy is it to charge an electric vehicle in the UK?
How to charge an electric vehicle in the UK?
Electric vehicle ownership has soared in recent years. Growing numbers of EVs have, in turn, forced more infrastructure to be created and while it’s still not perfect, there’s a far greater level of coverage out there than there has been in recent years.
But what is the current picture and if you’re considering EV ownership, how easy is it to charge up? Let’s take a look.
Are there many chargers in place?
At present, there are just over 59,000 charging devices positioned at over 32,000 different meaning that there really is quite a lot of coverage when it comes to topping up. In fact, according to leading charger mapping service Zap-Map, charger numbers are up 47 per cent compared with March 2023.
Since March 2023, just over 19,000 public charge points have been installed across to the UK, offering various charging speeds.
But are most of them slow chargers?
Not exactly. In fact, of the 2,300 chargers added to Zap Map’s database in March 2024, 470 of them were ultra-rapid and capable of delivering the most amount of charge to an electric vehicle. In addition, 172 were standard rapid devices and 1,658 were mixed between slow and fast units.
It must be remembered that ultra-rapid devices are more costly to install and require more background infrastructure than regular ‘fast’ 7kW units which can be put in place more easily.
Has any extra funding been announced?
That’s right. The Government has announced that a £381 million Local Electric Vehicle fund is being made available to councils, which can then use the money to install more chargepoints in their local area.
Technology and Decarbonisation Minister, Anthony Browne, said: “This government has a plan to help speed up the installation of EV chargepoints, which we’re getting on and delivering.
“This dedicated funding to local councils is part of our plan to ensure people can switch from a petrol or diesel car to an EV when they choose to do so.”
Are there any more charging hubs?
Charging hubs are often key locations for EV drivers to head towards in order to get reliable charging. At these spots, there are often multiple chargepoints which reduce the possibility of queues. Gridserve is one of the biggest names in this area and it has been quickly expanding its network of hubs.
In fact, one of its most recent installations has been an ultra-rapid hub at the M27 Rownhams Services on the south coast. With six 350kW chargers it’s able to deliver some of the highest rates of charge in the UK which, when connecting to a compatible EV, can bring a 10 to 80 per cent charge in under 30 minutes.
Are chargers being installed anywhere else?
There’s been a push to introduce chargers in more areas, too. A recent study found that one in eight UK supermarkets now offers electric vehicle charging, with the survey by the RAC and Zapmap discovering that the number of supermarkets with EV chargers grew from 1,015 at the end of 2022 to 1,616 just 12 months later.
While that still only equates to 13 per cent of all supermarkets in the UK, it shows a growing awareness of drivers that might want to top-up while they shop.
