More than two million successful electric vehicle charging sessions are now taking place on the UK’s public network each month, Zapmap has revealed.

Zapmap’s data reveals that 23 December was the busiest day for the public charging network in 2024

The new data from the charge point mapping service also reveals nearly 60% of these charging sessions use rapid/ultra-rapid chargers, classed as having a power rating of 50kW+ and able to typically charge an EV to 80% in 20 minutes to an hour.

Taking advantage of open data opportunities brought about by the UK’s Public Charge Point Regulations, Zapmap can now report in greater detail on utilisation trends across the nearly 76,000 charging devices that make up the  public charging network.

The business collates and analyses status data provided by charge point operators (CPOs) for each charge point in their network via the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) and tracks the time each UK public charge point spends in use.

Zapmap’s data reveals that 23 December was the busiest day for the public charging network in 2024 – with 104,215 charging events recorded. The quietest day for the network was 25 December, with 33,250 charges.

The peak summer travel day, with 66,621 charging events, fell on 2 August; the first Friday after the majority of schools in England broke up for the summer holidays.

The data enables CPOs and other industry players to enhance strategic planning, improve operational efficiency and optimise the customer experience.

Gridserve is tracking and analysing utilisation rates at its sites to anticipate needs and strengthen key en-route sites as demand ramps up.

Its Exeter Electric Super Hub is consistently the busiest charging site in the country and recorded hundreds of daily sessions across the site as a whole during June to August 2023.

Based on this data, the CPO was able to respond to growing demand, increasing devices from 12 to 36 ultra-rapid chargers. While the average number of sessions per device dropped for the corresponding period in 2024, the charging sessions for the site overall increased by over 100 sessions, allowing for more sessions, a better customer experience as well as giving drivers the confidence that the site is ready for future demand.

Rebecca Trebble, chief product officer at Gridserve, commented: “Utilisation is more than just a snapshot at a single point in time or over a 24-hour period. Tracking fluctuations in traffic and charging patterns help us to fully understand the customer experience, with peak times telling one story and off-peak times offering a completely different perspective.

“At Gridserve, we take a holistic view which allows us to find a good balance between availability and utilisation at the times when customers are most likely to need charging. It means we are working ahead of the curve to bring additional chargers online at some of the busier sites.”