There are now 10,000 high-powered electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints in the UK for the first time, with new sites being established at a faster rate than ever, according to specialist app-based mapping service Zapmap.
The company says the milestone will make it easier for EV drivers to make longer journeys and comes just before Christmas when many people travel across the country to visit family and friends. A national network of higher-powered chargepoints is seen as essential to enable longer-distance travel by battery-powered cars.
The data provider says that the landmark installation is at Sedbergh Leisure Centre in Bradford and is operated by GeniePoint. The 10,000 chargepoints, which form the higher-powered end of the country’s public charging network, are based at 5,000 locations.
Zapmap maintains that the rate at which high-powered chargepoints are being fitted is accelerating. The number of installations grew by 34% year-on-year to November 2022, but that had increased to 45% by November 2023.
In January 2021, there were 4,000 high-powered devices across the country. The 6,000 mark was achieved in June 2022, and this figure had risen to 8,000 by May 2023.
Ultra-high-power devices are also becoming more prevalent. Zapmap says that at the end of 2020, there were 788 devices in the UK offering 100kW or more – representing 20% of the country’s high-powered chargers. Now there are 4,504 devices with that capacity, making up 45% of high-powered devices.
According to Zapmap, high-powered devices are increasingly being clustered in charging hubs, which it defines as groups of six or more rapid or ultra-rapid devices. At the end of November 2022, there were 99 open-access charging hubs, while at the end of November 2023 this more than doubled to 239.
Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and chief operating officer at Zapmap, describes the 10,000th installation of high-powered devices as “really important for electric car drivers across the country” and will give EV drivers “confidence to drive electric wherever they go during the festive period”.
Zapmap provides an app that allows EV drivers to search, plan, and pay for charging, and has more than 700,000 registered users.
