The number of devices in the UK’s public charging network has increased 34% in the last year, passing the 32,000-unit milestone and powering on up.

Ubitricity operates the most public charging devices in the UK

Newly published Zap-Map figures for June 2022 show 829 new charging devices were added to its database last month. This brings the total to 32,663 charge points, across some 19,960 locations and encompassing 54,128 connectors.

A breakdown of the figures reveals a significant increase in the number of public EV charge points in the UK in recent years.

Between the end of 2016 and 2021 the charge point network grew four-fold from 6,500 to more than 28,000 devices. And between 2020 and the end of 2021, close to 7,500 charge points were added to the UK network; growth of 36%. This doesn’t include the many charge points installed at home or at workplace locations, which are estimated to be more than 400,000.

Zap-Map also analysed the market share of the charging networks in the UK by number of devices and found that Ubitricity, which is owned by Shell and runs a network of lamppost chargers, operates the most public charging devices in the UK. Next up is Pod Point with its network of destination chargers, found mainly in retail car parks, particularly supermarkets. In third place is BP Pulse, which has an extensive network of rapid and destination chargers across the UK.

Greater London still dominates the list of geographical distribution; it has 10,865 devices, followed by the South-East with 4,089 and Scotland with 2,986, indicating there are still big gaps in infrastructure.

The data also looks at the number of rapid/ultra-rapid chargers and finds that as of the end of June, there were 6,018 devices spanning 3,582 locations and 13,133 connectors. This follows the addition of 207 new devices last month.

Since June 2021, there has been a 67% increase in the number of ultra-rapid devices across the country.

InstaVolt has the most rapid and ultra-rapid charging points in its network – totalling 821 charge points at the end of June 2022. BP Pulse followed with 799 and then the Tesla Supercharger network with 722.

But Zap-Map has also split the Tesla Supercharger network figures to reflect the fact that non-Tesla vehicles can now use the network in some UK locations.

To access the Zap-Map figures, click here.