The number of ultra-rapid chargers increased by 80% in 2022

Year-end figures for charge point installations in 2022 produced by Zap-Map, the UK’s leading charge point mapping service, reveals more than 100 new high-speed charging hubs – facilities with four or more rapid/ultra-rapid devices – opened in 2022.

Zap-Map describes the extremely high growth in the number of ultra-rapid chargers across the country as the defining characteristic of the year. As of the end of December, Zap-Map’s data shows that the number of ultra-rapid charge points grew from 1,290 at the end of 2021 to 2,295, an increase of almost 80% in 2022.

The data, says Zap-Map, shows that the country’s ultra-rapid charging rollout is “more than keeping pace” with the increase in the number of pure-electric cars on UK roads, which grew by 40% since the end of 2021. More than 42,000 pure-electric cars were sold in 2022, overtaking petrol for the first time.

The growth in ultra-rapid charge points, identifies Zap-Map, is largely due to networks such as MFG EV Power, Osprey and GRIDSERVE Electric Highway, which are typically rolling out high-speed charging hubs of around six devices across the country.

Zap-Maps’ statistics identify 106 new high-speed charging hubs of four or more rapid/ultra-rapid devices. This represented a 56% increase in the number of high-speed charging hubs, with 189 locations at the end of 2021 and 295 at December 2022.

Breaking this down further, at the end of 2021 there were 89 high-speed charging hubs with seven or more devices. This figure increased to 128 by the end of 2022, an increase of 44%.

And looking at all charge points, the total number of devices grew by more than 30% across the UK – from 28,458 to 37,261 by the end of the year. These nearly 9,000 net new chargers is a new record for the number of UK charge points installed within a year.

But while it’s good to be aware of the total number of EV chargers in the UK, Zap-Map Co-founder & COO Melanie Shufflebotham says it’s important for the conversation to take on a little more nuance. “Over the next few years, the UK will need a mix of charging solutions to suit a wide variety of use cases,” she says.

“Focusing solely on the number of charging devices masks the different types of charging available, what they’re useful for, and which ones are needed where.”

And while London and the South East retain the top spots in terms of the highest number of charging points, 2022 saw an improvement in the distribution across the UK.

Special mention should go to the West Midlands, says Shufflebotham, which saw the most significant rate of growth last year. The total number of chargers in the region grew by 52% over the course of the year, increasing from 1,854 devices to 2,816, with 223 ultra-rapid devices, 419 rapid, 1,789 fast and 385 slow devices at the end of December.

Wales also saw significant growth, with 1,039 devices operational at the end of 2021, and 1,473 by the end of December – an increase of 42%.

Despite this, Greater London saw the highest overall number of devices installed in 2022, increasing from 9,160 devices at the end of 2021 to 11559 at the end of December – an increase of 26%.

Shufflebotham, commented, “2022 was a record year for both EV sales and public charging rollout. But there’s still a London and South-East bias, especially for slow on-street charging, and reliability remains the top concern for EV drivers. The rollout of rapid and ultra-rapid chargers has been moving at pace and this needs to continue through 2023, because they are crucial for topping up en-route.”

While the Zap-Map survey also shows that satisfaction levels among drivers of pure-electric vehicles are higher than for petrol and diesel cars, social media is currently awash with accounts from EV drivers who had to queue for hours to charge on long journeys over the Christmas break.