The United Kingdom has just achieved another major milestone in its electric vehicle industry as it officially surpassed the 10,000 rapid and ultra-rapid charge points threshold, data tracker Zapmap confirmed on December 6.
10,000th EV charge point installation milestone
Charging network operator GeniePoint was apparently the one to install the Jubilee rapid charge point at Sedbergh Leisure Centre in Bradford.
Now, there are more than 10,000 rapid and ultra-rapid charge points throughout 5,000 charging sites in the country. These devices make up the higher-powered end of the local public charging network.
Progress
Apart from the quantity, Zapmap’s most recent data revealed that charge point installation continues to accelerate.
In hindsight, the country’s public network enjoyed an overall growth of 34% year-on-year in November 2022. Impressively, that growth rate climbed to 45% in the same period this year. Swansway Motor Group also noted that the number of charging hubs also expanded by more than twofold to 239 at the end of November 2023 from just 99 hubs in the same period last year.
Moreover, the installation of high-powered chargers is also following an upward trend. According to the data, there were only 788 units of 100kW (or more) electric vehicle chargers in the country at the end of 2020. It accounted for only 20% of the country’s high-powered chargers. Impressively, that figure grew to 4,504 units in early December 2023, with a 45% share of the UK’s high-powered devices.
“It’s great to see the UK surpass 10,000 high-powered charging devices. That’s not only because it illustrates the acceleration in the rate of charge point installation. It’s also because the data shows the increasing prevalence of the highest power devices, those with a power rating of 100kW or more.
Having accounted for a fifth of high-power devices in December 2020, now almost half of the UK’s high-powered chargers are capable of delivering 100kW or well above, enabling anyone driving home for Christmas in an electric car to get there that much quicker.”
Jade Edwards, Head of Insights at Zapmap
Significance
The growing number of high-powered charge points in the UK is a crucial part of the government’s efforts to achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2050.
The lack of sufficient and reliable charging infrastructure continues to be among the top concerns of customers that impede them from joining the shift. That said, it is really important for the UK to continuously expand its charging network to assure current and future EV owners.
The charging network expansion can also significantly aid in addressing the prevailing range anxiety among drivers.
All that said, we can expect the UK to strive harder to increase the number of local charge points amid its shift towards a more sustainable future.
