The UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is continually growing and changing shape to meet the needs of EV drivers. Through the data collected to drive the Zapmap app, Zapmap tracks these changes to provide the EV charging statistics below. The statistics, which detail how many electric charging points in the UK there are updated on a monthly basis.
The tables and charts below show the growth rate of UK charge points, which are the largest networks, and the distribution of UK charging points by geographical area, as well as how many electric charging points in the UK there are at the end of each month. You can also see how many rapid charging points there are across the country.
How many public charging points are there in the UK?
At the end of August 2023, there were 48,450 electric vehicle charging points across the UK, across 29,062 charging locations. This represents a 42% increase in the total number of charging devices since August 2022.
Last month, 2,713 net new EV charging devices were added to the Zapmap database.
These figures show how many electric charging points in the UK there are that are part of the country’s public EV charging infrastructure. However, they do not include the many charge points installed at home or at workplace locations, which are estimated to be more than 400,000. Some of these EV charging points are available to the public in some form via community or visitor charging.
How is the UK charging points network growing over time?
As the chart reveals, the past few years have seen a significant increase in the number of public EV charge points in the UK. Between the end of 2016 and 2022 the charge point network grew four-fold from 6,500 to more than 37,261 devices and in the last 12 months between end of 2021 to end of 2022, over 8,600 charge points were added to the UK network, a growth of 30%.
Number of public UK charging points by speed (2016 to date)
Source: Zapmap database. Updated: 31st August 2023
The chart above also breaks down the number of charging devices by speed or power rating over the past six years. The four speeds or power ratings that are tracked are defined as slow (3-6kW), fast (7-22kW), rapid (25-99kW) and ultra-rapid (100kW+).
The charging network is made up of different types of charge points for different use cases, from high speed en-route chargers and charging hubs to destination chargers and on-street provision.
This graph focuses on the number of charging devices, rather than the capacity to deliver electricity. This masks the fact that devices with different power rating provide a significant difference in capacity. For instance, while rapid and ultra-rapid chargers only make up around 20% of total devices, they account for around 60% of the total capacity.
Which network has the largest number of EV chargers?
The charging network with the most charge points is ubitricity, with its network of lamppost chargers. Next up is Pod Point, a network of destination chargers found mainly in retail car parks, particularly supermarkets. In third place is bp pulse, which has an extensive network of rapid and destination chargers across the UK.
This data combines devices across all the different power ratings, and the data shows the network with the most charge points but not the highest amount of charging capacity.
Network market share UK – all electric vehicle charging points
Total charge devices: 48,450. Source: Zapmap database, 31st August 2023
Which areas have the most charge points across the UK?
The geographical area that has the most EV charging points is Greater London with 16,534, followed by the South East with 5,697 and Scotland with 4,187.
Again, this aggregates all the different types of charge devices, so caution should be used when making comparisons.
Distribution of UK charging points by geographical area
Total charge devices: 48,450. Source: Zapmap database, 31st August 2023
How many electric charging points in the UK are rapid and ultra-rapid?
As of August 2023, there are 9,015 rapid and ultra-rapid charging devices, across 4,752 rapid and ultra-rapid charging locations in the UK.
Last month, 243 net new rapid and ultra-rapid charging devices were added to the Zapmap database.
Since August 2022, there has been a 90% increase in the number of ultra-rapid devices across the country.
Which charge point operator has the most rapid and ultra rapid devices?
The network with the most rapid or ultra-rapid electric vehicle charging points is InstaVolt, which had 1,203 charge points at the end of August 2023.
After InstaVolt, bp pulse operates the most rapid or ultra-rapid charging points in the UK, with 1,147, followed by Tesla with 1,059.
Network market share rapid and ultra rapid devices
Total rapid and ultra-rapid devices: 9,015, Source: Zapmap database, 31st August 2023
Please note that third parties can use this data provided the source is clearly attributed to Zapmap, any graphs include the Zapmap logo, and a link is added back to https://www.zap-map.com in the body of the article. The data must be strictly copied and updated manually, no automated data collection can be applied in any form. The data can only published in its original state and without any modifications.
