We spoke to Stuart Wilson, UK managing Director at ubitricity, about what the network has to offer, what ubitricity has accomplished over the course of 2025, and its plans for the future
There are dozens of CPOs across the country, why should drivers filter for ubitricity when they open Zapmap?
ubitricity is part of the Shell Recharge network, we work with local authorities to provide public on-street charging. The majority of our network of over 11,000 charge points are on-street lamppost charge points, which typically charge at a speed of 5kW.
We provide an easy, close-to-home charging option for users who can’t charge at home. The majority of our user base use our charge points like they would a home charger, plugging in when they get back from work and charging overnight.
Additionally, we are one of the only public CPOs to provide our customers Smart Charging, giving EV drivers an option to save money on their charge. Currently drivers who charge at home already have the option to smart charge and access cheaper tariffs. With our Smart Charging feature, we are bringing a similar advantage to people who don’t always have access to a home charger.
Finally, the ubitricity network is powered by 100% renewable energy. To support our vision to make e-mobility as sustainable as possible, all of our charging points are powered by 100% renewable electricity certified by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs), which means that all of the electricity supplied is matched with the equivalent number of units from 100% renewable sources.
What's been the biggest surprise for ubitricity so far this year, and how have you responded to that?
This year, between June and July, we were able to install 1,000 charge points in just 45 days as part of our roll-out in Tower Hamlets, beating our projected timelines significantly. To put this in perspective, at the end of August 2025, there were 85,163 electric vehicle charging points in the UK, this rollout alone accounts for 1% of that figure. Which is a huge feat to achieve in just 45 days.
We are confident that this is one of the fastest rollouts of mass public charging infrastructure in the UK. We could not have done this without close co-ordination with the council which helped enable this fast and smooth installation schedule. This rollout shows that local authorities can roll out much needed public charging infrastructure at speed and scale.
We plan to install a further 1,000 charge points across the borough by the end of 2025 and we have already seen wide scale adoption of the public charge points by local residents which is very rewarding for our team to see.
What is your most unique location in your network and why?
Our most unique charge point would be our Gold Charge point! Installed to commemorate our 10,000th charge point in the UK! It was installed as part of our rollout in Tower Hamlets.
ubitricity's 10,000th UK charge point, Tower Hamlets
Our most unique use of charge points would have to go to Westminster. Our bollard charge points have been installed in several markets across Westminster for market stalls for local traders to use instead of diesel generators. They’ve also been used in local events such as World Food Day.
These charge points are not only useful for local traders but also helps to improve the air-quality of the local markets and will assist the council in meeting its carbon emissions targets.
How do you plan to work collaboratively within the industry to ensure a joined-up, interoperable experience for EV drivers across the UK?
At ubitricity we want to provide EV drivers with the best charging experience possible, which means to we need to collaborate with the industry on forward thinking policies that benefit our customers.
We are proud members of Charge UK, and take active part in the community, providing strong leadership on network deployment. As the largest public charging operator in the UK, we have a lot of knowledge to share. We want to help guide the industry on how to manage the mass deployment of chargers installed in conjunction with the government’s LEVI fund.
Additionally with our network spanning France, Germany and the Netherlands we want to bring learnings from other markets to the UK.
How are you making the charging experience simple for drivers across the UK?
We are the largest charge point operator in the UK with over 11,000 on-street lamppost charge points. Eight million UK households and just under a quarter (24%) of households in England do not have access to off-street or private parking. With charge point accessibility being one of the largest barriers to EV adoption, we provide close-to-home residential charging, right outside our customer’s door.
Additionally, at ubitricity you don’t need to have an account to charge. Starting a charge is as simple as scanning the QR code above the charge point and entering your details, (although we are also available on all major roaming platforms if you prefer to use one platform).
We have different winter and summer tariffs, but our Smart Charging feature helps our customers to save on their charge all year round without having to plug-in at a certain time to access cheaper tariffs.
ubitricity lamppost charge point in Chelsea
What measures are you working on to ensure your network hits the target of 99% uptime, as the government has mandated?
ubitricity has a robust maintenance schedule for our network. On the scheduled maintenance side of things, we make sure that every charge point in our network is visited every six months to ensure maximum uptime.
On top of that we’ve heavily invested in our reactive maintenance systems. Every single charge point in our network sends a status check, or “heartbeat” to our system every two minutes, if this status check shows something is off, or fails to happen we automatically schedule an engineer to check the site.
What would be your question for the next CPO we speak to?
What is the biggest barrier to EV uptake in the UK and how can this be addressed?
