by Department of Transport

Key fndings
• At 1 October 2020, there were 19,487 public electric vehicle charging devices available in the UK. Of these, 3,530 were rapid devices.
• Since 2015, the number of public charging devices has grown rapidly to October 2020, with an 18% increase in the year to date. Rapid
charging devices have also grown quickly, increasing by nearly ten times since 2015.
• In the third quarter of 2020, 1,222 more devices were available in total, up 7% on the previous quarter. 324 of these were rapid devices.

Regional distribution of charging devices
There is uneven geographical distribution of charging devices within the UK. Some UK local authorities have bid for UK Government funding for charging devices, and others have not. Most of the provision of this infrastructure has been market-led, with individual charging networks and other businesses (such as hotels) choosing where to install devices.

London has the highest level of charging device provision per 100,000 of population but is slightly below average in terms of rapid charging device provision. Scotland is above average in total devices per 100,000 and has the highest level of rapid device provision.

Charging devices have largely been funded by private sector investment, however a number of the devices have been Government funded via a number of grant schemes operated by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). OLEV also provides grant funding for private domestic charging and workplace charging devices, however these types of devices are not included within these statistics as they are not necessarily available to the general public.

An interactive map of this data is available at: maps.dft.gov.uk/ev-charging-map.

Background notes and limitations of data
This is a quarterly statistical release on electric vehicle charging devices. We would welcome feedback from users of the statistics. This can be provided via environment.stats@dft.gov.uk.

Charging device location data is sourced from the electric vehicle charging platform Zap-Map and represents devices reported as operational at midnight, 1 October 2020. Zap-Map reports that they cover 95% of publicly accessible devices. True counts are therefore likely to be higher and we Electric Vehicle Charging Device Statistics: October 2020- Page 5 have no way of assessing whether data coverage is better in some geographical areas than others.

There are no other sources with such comprehensive coverage against which we could verify the Zap-Map devices. As of 30 October 2020, the National Chargepoint Registry (NCR) covers 12,273 devices so cannot be used to verify the Zap-Map counts. The NCR, whilst covering fewer devices, does contain more detailed information on each charging device including the exact location and number of connectors.
‘Total devices’ represent publicly available charging devices at all speeds. ‘Rapid devices’ are those whose fastest connector is rated at 43kW and above. A device can have a number of connectors of varying types and speeds. Some devices can charge only one car at a time, and some can charge more than one simultaneously. The Zap-Map data does not indicate how many cars can be charged by a single device, therefore the statistics count the device itself. There is often more than one device at a location. Charging capability in any given location (the number of cars able to be charged at the same time) will be higher than the number of devices.

Population figures by Local Authority are sourced from the Office for National Statistics Population Mid Year Estimates for 2019. The Local Authority administrative geographies are from April 2020, available from the ONS Geography Portal.
Data after Q3 2019 reflects charging devices which were available at the end of each quarter.
Data previous to this uses charging devices which were available at Q3 2019, but were installed in previous quarters before this. Subsequently, these figures do not include any devices installed before Q3 2019 that were decommissioned or unavailable at the time.
Experimental Statistics. These quarterly statistics are badged as Experimental Statistics. Users should be aware of the status and cautions of these series, which will vary for each statistic and will be explained within each publication. The statistics are new but still subject to testing in terms of their volatility and ability to meet customer needs. They do not meet the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics, for example with respect to partial coverage. Further details on the limitations of Experimental Statistics can be found at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/odologytopicsandstatisticalconcepts/guidetoexperimentalstatistics.
This quarterly statistical series complements three earlier releases presenting statistics on observed usage and charging patterns for electric vehicle charging devices funded under various OLEV schemes: Local authority rapids; Public sector fasts; and Domestics.