How Many EV Charging Points Are There in the UK?
At the time of writing, there are 21,906 locations across the UK offering EV charging docks, comprising 36,752 individual devices and 60,701 connectors – some charging units have dual cables attached to charge two vehicles simultaneously.
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In the last year, the number of available charging points has increased by 22%, with 1,507 new charging stations installed in October 2022 alone.
As EVs become more popular and the legislation banning the sale of new petrol or diesel cars comes closer, more and more charging points are cropping up.
Those figures refer to public charging stations and exclude the charging docks fitted at private properties and workplaces. There are roughly 400,000 other chargers, some of which may be available for paying customers, visitors, or clients.
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Growth in the UK EV Charging Network
From 6,500 public chargers in 2016 and 28,000 at the end of 2021, the number of charging docks has grown significantly, with 7,500 added between 2020 and 2021, a growth rate of 36%.
Most public chargers are rapid or ultra-rapid, charging a standard EV to full power in as little as half an hour. These chargers are often found at supermarkets, retail centres and service stations.
Those 36,752 charging devices also vary, with some of them original slow chargers of 3kW to 6kW power outputs.
Fast chargers deliver between 7kW to 22kW, with rapid chargers of 25kW to 99kW and ultra-rapid chargers providing the highest possible power outputs of 100kW or above.
However, an EV battery has a limited power input capacity, so a smaller EV will not necessarily charge faster with an ultra-rapid charger than a slightly slower charging dock.
Because rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are multiple times more powerful than fast or slow chargers, they make up only 20% of all the devices available in the public charging network, but 60% of the nationwide charging capacity.
Finding Your Nearest EV Charging Station
If you're planning a longer journey or don't have an EV charger at home, it helps to know where the closest charging stations are along your journey to help you plan.
Zap-Map is one of the most used charging apps, and you can filter by location, route, charger type and payment methods. EDF also provides a free map of charging points, which you can zoom into and follow your route.
It may be worth bringing the EV charging cable with you just in case you need to top up your battery and find that the closest charging station does not have tethered docks.
Future EV Charging Point Demands
There are a growing number of EVs on the road, and with the future changes to vehicle sales legislation, this is only likely to increase – so are there enough EV chargers?
One of the challenges is that, even with a rapid charger, you will normally need to wait 20 or 30 minutes for your battery to be charged sufficiently to continue your journey.
If you arrive at a charging point and all the docks are in use, you will need to wait until another vehicle has finished charging. The etiquette is to leave once your battery has reached the required charge and park elsewhere if necessary.
The National Grid expects 10 million EVs to be on UK roads by 2030 and 30 million by 2040, so the existing public charging infrastructure will need to expand significantly to meet demand.
Estimates indicate that we will require the following:
- 280,000 charging stations by 2025.
- 870,000 charging stations by 2028.
- 2.3 million charging stations by 2030.
Although thousands of new chargers are installed, the pace isn't close to the 700 new chargers required per day – for the next ten years – to meet the potential demand.
Therefore, millions of EV drivers are installing charging points at home to ensure they can charge their vehicles overnight without running the risk of finding themselves with an empty battery and without a charging station available to get back on the road.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we provide quick answers to some common questions about the number of EV charging points available in the UK.
How Many UK Public EV Charging Stations Are There?
There are just under 22,000 charging stations, with almost 37,000 charging docks spread between them.
How Many EV Charging Points Does the UK Need?
The government has announced plans to install 300,000 EV charging stations by 2030, although this may be insufficient given the estimated 10 million EVs on the road.
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