UK’s charge-point distribution improves but gaps remain

An new report by Field Dynamics has looked into how many of the UK’s 9.3 million homes without off-street parking are within a five minute walk of a public EV charge-point.

For 32.7% of the UK’s households, charging their cars at home is not possible so they are presented with the choice of driving to a destination charger and waiting while their car is charged, or connecting it to an on-street charger in the evening and returning to it the following day. 

It is how the latter group are fairing that the report (which was compiled in association with Zapmap and Ordnance Survey) investigates, finding a huge variation in the levels of easily accessible charging infrastructure across the UK.

Some of the findings are unsurprising. Few of the residents of Westminster enjoy off-street parking but the generous provision of public charge-points across the borough means that 99% of them can walk to one in under five minutes. Across London as a whole, households typically have more than six charging locations within a five minute walk.

Outside London the best performing local authorities are Brighton and Hove (83.1%) Coventry (75.7%), Portsmouth (57.5%) and East Lothian (54.2%).

Coventry were singled out for particular praise, having improved so markedly from their 2022 figure of 45%.

At the other end of the scale, only 1.3% of the 6,793 households in North East Derbyshire without off-road parking are within such a convenient range of their nearest charger. there are 37 other local authorities which also fall under the 10% mark.

Across the UK as a whole, the average number of households with five minutes of a charger has increased from 17.2% in 2022 to 24.8% in 2024. The increase in this figure is encouraging but it is someway short of the overall increase in charge-points, suggesting that a good proportion of new infrastructure is being placed in areas where it not so badly needed. 

Field Dynamics’ Managing Director, Craig Stephenson, commented on the findings: ‘This report underscores the significant progress made by local authorities in expanding EV charging infrastructure. However, it also highlights the need for continued efforts to ensure equitable access to charging facilities across all regions.’

An interactive map, presenting the results of the research by local authorities can be found here.