Private chargers dominate UK’s EV landscape

Analysis by UK-based industry group ChargeUK shows that there are now more than 930,000 public, home and workplace charging points for electric vehicles (EVs) across the nation, supporting 1.1 million such vehicles

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This figure, published on Monday July 15, means that there is nearly one charger per EV, and indicates that significant strides have been made to support the transition to low-carbon transportation in the UK.

But the analysis highlights the significance of private charging networks, revealing that the UK currently has 809,181 home chargers but only 57,510 workplace chargers.

Research by the Electric Vehicle Association England indicates that 81% of EV owners do most or all their charging at home or at work. Research by the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) from 2022 supports this, finding that 30% of respondents used workplace chargers.

ChargeUK’s analysis shows that the total capacity of the UK’s charging network has expanded by more than 115% over the past two years, and now delivers 6.87GW, 165GWh, daily. This capacity would enable every EV in the UK to drive 580 miles per day, far exceeding the average daily journey distance.

Despite that, some consumers were still concerned about the availability of charging points.

Tom Riley, founder of EV sector newsletter The Fast Charge, told Fastmarkets that, with the newly elected Labour government now in power in the UK, the number of people switching to EVs will only increase further, due to the new administration’s promises to accelerate the Zero-Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

“While the industry is at present adding enough [charging points] each month to meet supply, and while many owners have home-chargers, that picture will change,” Riley said, “adding pressure on operators and policymakers to deliver the 300,000 chargers that Whitehall has previously said may be needed by 2030.”

The public charging network has also shown remarkable growth, with a 42% annual increase in the past two years. The analysis shows that today there are 64,632 public chargers in the UK.

Notably, the analysis showed that a new public charge point was installed every 26 minutes in the past quarter, indicating a robust deployment pace.

If this rate of growth continues, the UK is projected to have more than 300,000 public chargers by 2030, comfortably supporting the expected increase in EV numbers, according to ChargeUK.

The ratio of EVs to public chargers stands at 17:1, while the ratio to home chargers is 1.4:1, and the overall combined ratio is 1.2:1, indicating nearly one charger for every EV.

In January 2024, the ZEV mandate came into force, setting out the percentage of EVs that manufacturers in the UK must sell each year, increasing to 100% by 2035.

At the end of June 2024, according to latest data from UK electrical charging infrastructure monitor Zapmap, there were 1,140,000 fully electric cars on UK roads and a further 670,000 plug-in hybrids.

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