EV public charging disparity revealed

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the towns and cities with the highest density of charging points – and the lowest.

Research by car selling comparison website Motorway.co.uk found that the London borough of Westminster has 375 public electric vehicle (EV) charging points, more than anywhere else in the country. It also has the highest concentration of EV charging points with 1.47 per 1,000 population. This ratio is only going to increase, with the council planning to have 468 public charging points installed by the end of the year.

Three other boroughs – Richmond upon Thames, Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth – each have more than 200 public electric vehicle charging points. While, Bexley is the only borough which hasn’t installed any public charging points to date, although the council plans to have 13 points operational by the end of the year.

Outside London, Milton Keynes, with a population of 230,000, has the highest concentration of EV charging points, with 0.83 per 1,000 population, and 192 points across the town. Nottingham, with 215 charging points, has more than any other UK town/city.

At the other end of the scale, Kingston Upon Hull, Mansfield, Northampton and Swansea currently have no public electric vehicle charging points despite having populations greater than 150,000.

The government recently announced a £400m investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with half funded by private sector partners. It hopes to have 5,000 rapid charging points operational by 2024.

Alex Buttle, director of Motorway.co.uk, said, ‘UK government has a mammoth task on its hands to create an EV charging infrastructure that can cope with the expected growth in electric car ownership over the next 20 years. In fact, its own 2040 switchover target from fossil fuels depends on it.

‘Although we only looked at public, not private charging points, there will still be a huge reliance on public charging infrastructure. And it’s severely lacking at present.

‘Figures supplied by local councils suggest a worrying disparity between towns and cities with the highest and lowest concentrations of charging points. While some areas have made significant progress in building a capable charging infrastructure, other areas appear to be well behind the curve. The ramifications on local economies of a substandard charging infrastructure could be severe.

‘There is also a more pressing issue. The government is trying to encourage people to switch to electric cars, but many vehicle owners are reluctant to do so until they are confident that the infrastructure is fit for purpose.

‘We carried out a survey of UK drivers recently and an inadequate charging infrastructure was the most common reason cited by respondents as to why they wouldn’t consider switching to an electric car over the next five years.’