South East charging ahead

The South East of England is setting the pace in terms of installing home charging points for electric vehicles.

According to charge point installer Smart Home Charge, enquiries and installations for home EV charging points have accelerated in recent years, but it is in the South East where demand is greatest. Smart Home Charge installed over 1,400 charge points in the region between July 2020 and June 2022.

However, the Midlands is rapidly catching up with the most installations in 2022 so far with 446 home charge points installed versus 431 for the South East.

The Midlands has also seen the most enquiries for home chargers of any UK regions, with more than 5,200 since July 2020. A deciding factor and uplift for this could be Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone, which was introduced on 1 June, 2021.

Danny Morgan, editor at Smart Home Charge, said: “It’s no surprise to see EV home charger enquiries and installations increasing as the electric car ball is well and truly rolling and home charging is the most convenient method of refuelling an EV.

“However, it’s encouraging to see demand is not restricted to just London and the South East, with the Midlands, the North of England, and Scotland seeing healthy home charge point installation numbers. East Anglia and Wales are lagging behind in terms of enquiries and installations, which may be due to their more rural road network, so more work is needed to help convince drivers of the viability of electric cars here.”