UK hits 50,000 public chargepoint installation milestone

New statistics show more than 50,000 public electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints have now been installed across the UK. The stats, produced using data supplied to the Department for Transport (DfT) by Zapmap, show that at 52,602 installations there are 44% more public chargepoints than this time last year.

According to the DfT, this rate of growth means the country remains on track to reaching its target of 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030.

The zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain to be zero emission by 2030.

UK technology and decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said, “Passing 50,000 public chargepoints is a key milestone in our journey to zero emission driving and shows the incredible progress we’ve made to provide the infrastructure for drivers to go electric.

“With government and private sector investment, we are backing drivers by expanding our charging network – creating jobs and putting us well on the way to our target of 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030.”

In the UK, EVs now make up 16% of the new car market – higher than the European Union average of 13%.

As part of the UK government’s recently-announced ‘Plan for Drivers‘, it intends to consult on ways to make installations cheaper and quicker for chargepoint operators, review the grid connections process for chargepoints, and also consult on the expansion of permitted development rights to make installations easier.

Additionally, the government’s ‘Connections’ action plan aims to overhaul the way projects access the electricity grid and reduce delay time, positively impacting all types of connection customers including EV chargepoint operators.