Charging stations facilitating extended journeys are expanding beyond London
Charging companies are addressing gaps in the UK’s high-speed charging network, adding hundreds of stations this year outside London. This shift aims to alleviate “range anxiety” for potential electric car buyers. Although the capital and the southeast still dominate in the number of chargers of all speeds, including slow, rapid, and ultra-rapid, other regions are experiencing an increase in high-speed chargers. The West Midlands, East Midlands, the Southwest of England, and Wales surpassed London in installing more rapid or ultra-rapid chargers in the past year, with their networks growing more rapidly than those in the southeast, according to data from ZapMap, a UK public charging point mapping service.
According to ZapMap’s data, nine out of 12 regions in the UK have installed over 100 rapid chargers in the past year.
While extended journeys are infrequent for most households, concerns about finding chargers for occasional long drives, such as the expected 14 million trips over the August bank holiday weekend, have deterred some from adopting electric cars.
Among the UK’s 46,000 public chargers, the majority are classified as either “slow,” providing a trickle of energy for overnight street charging, or “fast,” capable of charging an average car in two to four hours. However, the significance of “rapid” and “ultra-rapid” chargers lies in facilitating the country’s shift from petrol and diesel engines to cleaner electric cars, allowing drivers to recharge during longer journeys.
Rapid chargers can supply electric cars with power ranging from 25 to 100 kilowatts. A 50kW connection can provide approximately 80% charge to the average car in less than an hour. Ultra-rapid connections, exceeding 100kW (up to 350kW for the latest cars), can achieve even faster charging times, allowing more vehicles to be charged within the same timeframe at motorway service stations, albeit at a higher cost for customers.
Melanie Shufflebotham, Chief Operating Officer at ZapMap, remarked, “In 2023, the deployment of the crucial ultra-rapid charging network has significantly accelerated, with a 42% increase in chargers compared to the beginning of the year. Crucial for assisting electric vehicle drivers on extended journeys, it’s promising to observe their installation nationwide, particularly in areas like Wales, Northern Ireland, and the north-east, which were previously underserved.
Quentin Willson, founder of the campaign group FairCharge and former motoring presenter, mentioned that range anxiety is not as significant an issue as it used to be due to the improving number of chargers. He remarked, “People are managing to cope as long as they plan.” Willson added that range anxiety is “certainly not the force it was,” especially considering that most new electric cars now offer between 200 and 250 miles of range, which is more than sufficient for the majority of daily journeys.
The overall rate of charger installations has accelerated, witnessing a 23% increase in total charger numbers during the initial seven months of the year. In the first half of 2022, an average of 891 charging devices were installed each month. However, this figure nearly doubled to 1,622 per month in the initial six months of 2023, as revealed by ZapMap.
However, Willson noted that there are “blockages in the system” hindering a faster charger rollout, including electricity grid connections that are falling significantly behind demand.
London continues to significantly surpass the rest of the country in terms of the total number of public chargers. This is partly due to a higher percentage of households in London lacking private parking, but it also reflects the attractiveness of the more affluent London market to charge point operators.
Nevertheless, Willson cautioned against viewing London as a uniform entity due to variations between local authorities. Some areas in Greater London and the southeast of England face inadequate access to public chargers, he highlighted.