EV charger rollout in UK slows - politics & costs
Discussion
OK so overall growth has slowed to 10% year-on-year, with around 5,100 new public chargers added in the first half of 2026. But at the same time, ultra-rapid chargers are up 37%, on-street chargers are up 18%, and the UK has now passed 1,000 ultra-rapid charging hubs.
To me, that says the industry is shifting from adding chargers for the sake of adding them, to trying to build a better infrastructure. When you chuck in networks like InstaVolt upgrading the GeniePoint estate, Gridserve opening and expanding Electric Super Hubs, Tesla still growing its Supercharger network, and other networks like IONITY, Fastned, evyve etc. investing in larger, higher-powered sites, I think this Guardian article is a bit more of a click-bait probe more so than something alarming.
I do think the uncertainty around the ZEV mandate has made some investors pause though tbf. But I don't think the direction of travel has changed. I see it as the focus is building a futureproof charging infrastructure that is suitable for the next 10+ years as EV demand grows. Rome wasn't built in a day and the smarter thing to do is to build for the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/06/u...
To me, that says the industry is shifting from adding chargers for the sake of adding them, to trying to build a better infrastructure. When you chuck in networks like InstaVolt upgrading the GeniePoint estate, Gridserve opening and expanding Electric Super Hubs, Tesla still growing its Supercharger network, and other networks like IONITY, Fastned, evyve etc. investing in larger, higher-powered sites, I think this Guardian article is a bit more of a click-bait probe more so than something alarming.
I do think the uncertainty around the ZEV mandate has made some investors pause though tbf. But I don't think the direction of travel has changed. I see it as the focus is building a futureproof charging infrastructure that is suitable for the next 10+ years as EV demand grows. Rome wasn't built in a day and the smarter thing to do is to build for the future.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/06/u...
If they installed the same number of new chargers consistently year on year, the % increase in total number each year would only every drop... So I think the basis of the headline is a little flawed. Possibly seeking drama or possibly the journalist doesn't understand maths - probably both, actually 
But it's certainly true that commitment to ZEV and equivalent schemes outside the UK has wavered in some cases - although not meaningfully in terms of change of direction, but the pace of change may slow a little. But my own impression is that the charging network seemed to surge forward around 2023-24, and has since then continued to grow steadily, remaining just ahead of current demand, which seems about right to me.
But it's certainly true that commitment to ZEV and equivalent schemes outside the UK has wavered in some cases - although not meaningfully in terms of change of direction, but the pace of change may slow a little. But my own impression is that the charging network seemed to surge forward around 2023-24, and has since then continued to grow steadily, remaining just ahead of current demand, which seems about right to me.
Very flawed report,
A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
I agree that's a very flawed article and report.
For me the issue is now about faster chargers replacing 'old' chargers. The majority of street chargers round me in Scotland are older Charge place Scotland ones. Often 7kw or so, often located round the back of a community centre or random council car park, often not so well maintained.... And Chargeplace Scotland is perfect example - it's being wound down and replaced with other operators and newer kit, but often still behind the council office on a dodgy industrial estate...
For me the issue is now about faster chargers replacing 'old' chargers. The majority of street chargers round me in Scotland are older Charge place Scotland ones. Often 7kw or so, often located round the back of a community centre or random council car park, often not so well maintained.... And Chargeplace Scotland is perfect example - it's being wound down and replaced with other operators and newer kit, but often still behind the council office on a dodgy industrial estate...
T6 vanman said:
Very flawed report,
A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
Here in Glasgow 75% of people live in apartments and this could be true of many cities. Therefore public charging is import, but who want to pay 50p plus. Making charging cheaper is a priority along with making charging times shorter. Its definitely a problem Tesla have with opening up there network. Queuing for charging at some sites has lead to these sites reverting back to Tesla only.A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
fooman said:
BYD on rolling out their megawatt flash chargers "We don't need to install as many on a site as normal chargers, because no one will be on them very long" as charging speeds increase the number of charging points per EV needed will decrease anyway.
I don't really get it tbh. Modern EV's will do a genuine 300 miles before requiring a charge, which means youv'e driven for 5-6 hours and are very much due a break of at least 20 minutes - in order to fix the fact you're already less responsive than a drunk teenager after so many hours driving. But also after so many hours, it's impossible for a meal to not be due! So more like 30 minutes in reality. But even at 20 minutes on a typical 150kw charger you've added at least another 150 miles. Because we live in a very small island nation, we tend to run out of road before that additional range has been exhausted - so really, what is the point of faster charging in the UK? It's so much more expensive to get to the megawatt charge rate when it comes to infrastructure and equipment, I don't see the value.
I'm aware that many none EV drivers want to see charge times reduced to what they're used to with pump filling times. But I expect most EV drivers would agree with me that it's not actually required to be that fast.
ashenfie said:
Here in Glasgow 75% of people live in apartments and this could be true of many cities. Therefore public charging is import, but who want to pay 50p plus. Making charging cheaper is a priority along with making charging times shorter. Its definitely a problem Tesla have with opening up there network. Queuing for charging at some sites has lead to these sites reverting back to Tesla only.
Gretna Saturday evening. Other cars just out of shot were Audi and Mercedes with only 2 Tesla using the chargers (one of which being mine). Only queued once at Tesla superchargers in 16 months 15k miles (Boxing Day Trafford centre) despite opening up the network it hasn’t caused me any issues with accessing Tesla superchargers.napistonheads said:
ashenfie said:
Here in Glasgow 75% of people live in apartments and this could be true of many cities. Therefore public charging is import, but who want to pay 50p plus. Making charging cheaper is a priority along with making charging times shorter. Its definitely a problem Tesla have with opening up there network. Queuing for charging at some sites has lead to these sites reverting back to Tesla only.
Gretna Saturday evening. Other cars just out of shot were Audi and Mercedes with only 2 Tesla using the chargers (one of which being mine). Only queued once at Tesla superchargers in 16 months 15k miles (Boxing Day Trafford centre) despite opening up the network it hasn t caused me any issues with accessing Tesla superchargers.ashenfie said:
I'm sure Tesla whole business model is not based around Gretna. Try charging on a Saturday in Glasgow Braehead. You would be very disappointed and queuing if you wanted to be near the shops, for 50kwh chargers. So the nearest Tesla charger is a 15mile round trip and typically 65p during the day. I am based in the hart of the city not out in the sticks.
Any Ionity ones around?47pKwh (with £10.50 subscription)
The ones i ve used have been excellent. Quiet, good locations, their cables reach my Enyaqs plug!
T6 vanman said:
Very flawed report,
A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
There may be more EV charging stations but the petrol pumps put out energy at about 28,500kW or 28.5MW.A quick googleoggle, The UK now has significantly more public electric vehicle (EV) chargers than individual fuel pumps. Nationwide, there are 121,171 public EV chargers spread across 46,731 different locations compared to an estimated 60,802 fuel pumps across just 8,329 petrol stations
ICE ... You commute to one of 8,329 petrol station to connent with one of 60,802 fuel pumps every time to refill an emptying tank,
EV ... Statistically over 80% don't commute but charge at home with another 10% mainly charging at work, often an EV user will only encounter a public charger during an extended journey, therefore will look for a main route charge hub / end destination charge point both with high output.
Anecdotally I've used a public charger twice, Once on the way home from purchasing my EV (Charge needed as bought 200 miles away) and once to confirm my public charging app was working (Charge not needed as local).
Politicians should not be interfering with the market at taxpayers cost but mandating low cost slower chargers in urban street/lampost structures for the small quantity of households without off street parking
I believe nearly 60,000 of the public chargers in the estate are between 3kw & 8kw (likely AC) which I see as somewhat pointless and rarely ever used. A lot of the 7kw chargers near me come with a 1 or 2 hour max limit in the carpark which is daft. A further circa 33,000 chargers are between 8kw and 50kw, which is getting better but still not great considering the through put (I'd imagine a petrol pump would see between 20 & 30 fills / hour when busy).
What is good to see if the number of chargers under 50kw isn't really increasing as much as the faster chargers. We need more fast chargers and the cost to come down. Its going to be bad enough for those in flats / no ability to charge at home having to pay 10x more for mobility Vs people with driveways, but expecting them to spend 1-2 hours a week charging at a 50kw charger is rough when those of us with driveways can do it at home!
Is part of the issue that public chargers tend to be quite expensive so aside from an emergency or the need to plan and check the apps you've installed for a long trip (rather than popping into a random garage for fuel), nobody really wants to use them? I visit a "certain someone" a lot and her nearest charging points are all around the 60p range (so roughly equivalent to what petrol costs). Personally, I just charge my car at home but for those who cannot do that, there doesn't appear to be a benefit to switching to EVs to use public charge points.
TheDeuce said:
fooman said:
BYD on rolling out their megawatt flash chargers "We don't need to install as many on a site as normal chargers, because no one will be on them very long" as charging speeds increase the number of charging points per EV needed will decrease anyway.
I don't really get it tbh. Modern EV's will do a genuine 300 miles before requiring a charge, which means youv'e driven for 5-6 hours and are very much due a break of at least 20 minutes - in order to fix the fact you're already less responsive than a drunk teenager after so many hours driving. But also after so many hours, it's impossible for a meal to not be due! So more like 30 minutes in reality. But even at 20 minutes on a typical 150kw charger you've added at least another 150 miles. Because we live in a very small island nation, we tend to run out of road before that additional range has been exhausted - so really, what is the point of faster charging in the UK? It's so much more expensive to get to the megawatt charge rate when it comes to infrastructure and equipment, I don't see the value.
I'm aware that many none EV drivers want to see charge times reduced to what they're used to with pump filling times. But I expect most EV drivers would agree with me that it's not actually required to be that fast.
We need to cost to come down and for charging to be as convenient as filling with petrol is now (ie it is always available when you need it and doesn't add any time to your journey).
Hoofy said:
Is part of the issue that public chargers tend to be quite expensive so aside from an emergency or the need to plan and check the apps you've installed for a long trip (rather than popping into a random garage for fuel), nobody really wants to use them? I visit a "certain someone" a lot and her nearest charging points are all around the 60p range (so roughly equivalent to what petrol costs). Personally, I just charge my car at home but for those who cannot do that, there doesn't appear to be a benefit to switching to EVs to use public charge points.
Sums it up, for those of us who would quite like to switch to EV, but the costs don't work out when only public charging has to be used.All chargers you can use now with just a tap of a contactless card, but on the rare occasions I use public charging, the apps have been helpful.
The Tesla app (many of them can now be used by any make of car with a CCS connector), tells you how many are available in real time, as well as the defective ones, Electroverse does the same. Osprey too, although they are pricey, but I got 25 kW free with them when I switched to EON.
The Tesla app (many of them can now be used by any make of car with a CCS connector), tells you how many are available in real time, as well as the defective ones, Electroverse does the same. Osprey too, although they are pricey, but I got 25 kW free with them when I switched to EON.
A very odd, and very 'Guardian' article, and what it didn't really deal with is the question of 'who needs EV chargers'.
For people who have a home charger then how often to you need to use a commercial charger - my experience of owning EVs for five years and since they started charging is 'damn all' (I remember the glory days of supermarkets and retail parks having free to use EV chargers).
And for people who can't have a home charger then as the cost to charge is at least the same as petrol, if not more, then few will buy an EV and need to use them.
A petrol station I pass twice a day nearby had a load of EV chargers installed a couple of years ago, but it is exceedingly rare to see anyone charging there, and that is despite it being less than 1/2 mile from a major A road.
The whole issue isn't the number of EV chargers, it is the cost of using an EV charger.
For people who have a home charger then how often to you need to use a commercial charger - my experience of owning EVs for five years and since they started charging is 'damn all' (I remember the glory days of supermarkets and retail parks having free to use EV chargers).
And for people who can't have a home charger then as the cost to charge is at least the same as petrol, if not more, then few will buy an EV and need to use them.
A petrol station I pass twice a day nearby had a load of EV chargers installed a couple of years ago, but it is exceedingly rare to see anyone charging there, and that is despite it being less than 1/2 mile from a major A road.
The whole issue isn't the number of EV chargers, it is the cost of using an EV charger.
ashenfie said:
I'm sure Tesla whole business model is not based around Gretna. Try charging on a Saturday in Glasgow Braehead. You would be very disappointed and queuing if you wanted to be near the shops, for 50kwh chargers. So the nearest Tesla charger is a 15mile round trip and typically 65p during the day. I am based in the hart of the city not out in the sticks.
I don t remember saying Tesla based their business model on Gretna now did I? I provided a real world, recent lived example based on experience also including over a years worth of using an EV. I also consider Trafford Centre (which I ve only ever had to queue at once) Burtonwood, Preston, Teabay to be in places with high volumes of traffic. they may not all be in inside major cities but they re not out in the sticks . Which chargers have you had to queue for in your EV and also which EV? I ll have a look at Braehead tomorrow as I m through that way. If you want cheap EV charging in Glasgow why wouldn’t you use this? Is this out in the sticks? The ones in Glasgow tend to be cheaper than any other Tesla charger I use and the off peak rate is almost the same as my home daytime electricity rate.
Edited by napistonheads on Monday 13th July 12:02
This is actually quite well timed for me. Took the EV to Cornwall from just outside Liverpool last week. Journey down was a doddle. Even got free charging due to a system blip at Gloucester services. While down there, every EV charging place I went to had at least 1 free spot for charging. Loads of chargers knocking around. The only blip I had was at Lizard Point. There was a 7kw and 50kw charger, perfect. However, the screen on the 50kw charger was impossible to see in the blazing sunlight and there were no instructions on the unit itself so I had inadvertently tried to pay using the RFID setting instead of contactless card. After accidentally finding the button to enable contactless card payment, it then told me the card payment system was broken and to use the app. Fine. Cornish phone signal being what it is meant it took some time to scan the QR code, which took me to the app, which told me it wasn't available in the UK. Fantastic. Otherwise, I've had next to zero trouble finding and charging using the public charging infrastructure. I will say we've decided to stick to holiday places that have chargers on site. It just makes life easier with less planning ahead.
I guess it's a lot easier to pop up a few low speed chargers (7 and 22kw) vs all the gubbins to house, protect and dispense fuel. The 7kw ones are all over car parks now. Alright, you don't get much juice from them but if you're on a day out for 4/5 hours, you can easily get yourself a significant amount of charge.
I guess it's a lot easier to pop up a few low speed chargers (7 and 22kw) vs all the gubbins to house, protect and dispense fuel. The 7kw ones are all over car parks now. Alright, you don't get much juice from them but if you're on a day out for 4/5 hours, you can easily get yourself a significant amount of charge.
slievenashaska said:
The whole issue isn't the number of EV chargers, it is the cost of using an EV charger.
No. It's a combination of the cost, the location, and the time of public charging. Assuming public charging equate to petrol/diesel cost, and we ignore that: I calculate that filling with petrol or diesel gives me 35 miles per minute spent filling. EV would give me 5 to 15 miles per minute spent filling. Those times include going to a fuelling/charger location, with and without another purpose for the journey (eg supermarket shop/journey break, which I don't need to make for petrol or diesel).
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