More than 2000 new chargers were installed in both March and April taking the total past 42,000. Moreover, the rate of installations per month is accelerating and shows an increase of 75% compared to the January – April 2023 period when compared to the same quarter in 2022.
According to Zapmap, the leading EV charging mapping service and independent authority on electric vehicle infrastructure, 2,080 new charge points were switched on in April 2023, an increase of 14% in net new chargers since the beginning of 2023. The rate of charge point installations has increased significantly in 2023, with an average of 1,625 new chargers being installed each month compared to 914 per month across the same period in 2022 and 1,115 per month across the whole of 2022.
The increase in new ultra rapid charging points that can deliver a full charge in as little as 20 minutes was 655. That brings the total number of ultra rapid chargers to 2,869 – a 25% increase in net new chargers available since the beginning of 2023 and a jump of 79% on this time last year.
An additional 3,415 fast chargers, typically found in car parks or destinations and 1,828 slower chargers that are used in residential streets and workplaces also came on stream. There are now 42,556 public chargers in use in the UK.
ChargeUK launched last month bringing together 19 leading companies responsible for the UK’s charging infrastructure. At the time it announced £6 billion of investment and plans to double the number of charge points in 12 months.
“These figures show the huge step-up in deployment of EV charging infrastructure that is underway in 2023,” said Ian Johnston, chair of ChargeUK. “The rate of deployment is increasing month-on-month, but we can go much faster with the right policies and help from Government to remove the barriers that are currently constraining the roll-out.”
Melanie Shufflebotham COO and co-founder at Zapmap said, “The charger rollout is gathering pace both with high powered chargers to support en route charging, and also more local charging where it is needed to support charging closer to home. Evidence suggests that this is set to continue across 2023.”
![“As we enter 2024, smaller [EV charging] networks may struggle to remain competitive in the face of rising interest rates, leading to a consolidation of operators,” says Connected Kerb CEO Chris Pateman-Jones. Image: © Dreamstime/Welcomia](/sites/evci/files/styles/medium/public/2023-12/dreamstime_EVs-charging-c-Welcomia.jpg?itok=jwA9q2ug "“As we enter 2024, smaller [EV charging] networks may struggle to remain competitive in the face of rising interest rates, leading to a consolidation of operators,” says Connected Kerb CEO Chris Pateman-Jones. Image: © Dreamstime/Welcomia")
