Public EV charge points increase by a third year on year

The government’s latest quarterly electric vehicle public charging device statistics show a significant increase in both total and rapid public chargers over the last year.

As of 1 April there were 30,290 public chargers of which 5,494 were rapid chargers. 

This represents a 33%, year on year increase in the total number of public chargers, up by 7,500 devices, and a 29% increase – an additional 1,235 – in rapid public devices.

From January to March 2022, the number of total and rapid devices has increased by 1915 and 388 respectively.

Growth in UK public charging devices since 2015

Public charging devices per 100,000 of population by region

While the analysis shows an increase in total and rapid devices across all regions of the UK, there is an uneven geographical distribution. This, says the Department for Transport is because some UK local authorities have bid for UK Government funding for charging devices, and others have not. It also observes that most of the infrastructure provision has been market-led, with individual charging networks and other businesses such as hotels choosing where to install devices.