Figures from Zap- Map, a data company, show that in 2022 8,700 public chargers were installed across the UK, bringing the national total to over 37,000.
This represents an annual growth rate of over 30 per cent, which is below the increase in the number of EV’s sold in the UK in 2022, which grew by 38 per cent.
The UK government set a target of 300,000 publicly available chargers by 2030, when the sale of pure petrol or diesel vehicles becomes illegal.
The 30 per cent increase in installations is good news and suggests that that target is likely to be met, although the number of installations will need to hit 19,000 on annual basis by 2025.
Funding is readily available for the roll out of EV charging points but there are concerns that many local authorities are not acting quickly enough – and while many are installing chargers, those numbers need to rise by hundreds, even thousands, according to critics.
Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are now being rolled out in significant numbers and have attracted the attention of the likes of Tesla, Instavolt, BP and Shell.
Critically, installations not only need to increase but they also need to be located in the right places.
All of which will need greater co-ordination between central and local government, as well as with charging point operators and businesses.
