Zap-Map, the UK’s leading electric vehicle (EV) charging app, has published new mid-year figures for charge point installations in 2022 in the UK. There has been significant growth in the number of ultra-rapid chargers and acceleration in the provision of on-street chargers to growth, especially in the North East.
As of the end of June 2022, Zap-Map’s data shows that the number of ultra-rapid charge points, which cater to drivers travelling on longer journeys and looking to charge up as quickly as possible, has grown almost 40 percent since the end of 2021.
This shows that the ultra-rapid charging roll-out is more than keeping pace with the increase in electric vehicle drivers, which has grown 29 percent in the first half of 2022.
The growth in ultra-rapid charge points is largely due to networks such as MFG EV Power, InstaVolt and GRIDSERVE Electric Highway. All have rolled out high-speed charging hubs with at least six devices across the country.
It’s not only the high-speed chargers that deserve attention. The total number of charging devices across the UK has grown by almost 15 percent, from 28,458 to 32,663, since the end of December 2021. Of the 4,205 new devices installed in the UK this year, 1,662 of them are on-street chargers.
These are found on residential streets and provide an alternative to charging at home or for those without driveways. The number of these chargers has increased by just under 19 percent in 2022 so far, growing from 8,842 at the end of 2021 to 10,504 at the end of June.
Although a combination of networks, including char.gy and Connected Kerb, have been driving the growth of on-street chargers, ubitricity, which predominantly fits slow devices into lampposts, have installed 981 chargers so far this year. This is the most of any network.
Of the 4,205 new devices installed in the UK in the first six months of 2022, almost half (49 percent) were installed by just five networks. After ubitricity, Pod Point has installed 649 devices of varying speeds. In third place, rapid charging network InstaVolt has installed 166 chargers, while char.gy and destination charging provider VendElectric have installed 145 and 126 respectively.
While electric vehicle charging networks have been getting chargers up and running across the UK, the area that has seen the highest rate of growth so far this year is the North East. The number of charging devices in the North East has grown by 21 percent in the first six months of 2022 from 897 to 1,085.
Despite this, Greater London has seen the highest number of devices installed this year. These have increased from 9,160 devices at the end of 2021 to 10,865 at the end of June. This is an increase of more than 18 percent. The East of England has also seen significant growth, with the number of devices increasing by 18 percent from 1,775 to 2,097.
As we moved into July, which isn’t part of these figures, Pivot Power, part of EDF Renewables, alongside Oxford City Council, Fastned, Tesla Superchargers and Wenea, officially opened Energy Superhub Oxford. This is Europe’s most powerful charging hub and provides a positive start to the second half of the year.
Melanie Shufflebotham, Zap-Map, COO and co-founder, said: “The 40 percent increase in the number of ultra-rapid chargers is clearly the headline figure so far in 2022. These types of chargers make longer journeys far easier, so the big increase should really mean we see an end to ‘range anxiety’.
“But let’s not forget that slower chargers also have a critical role to play. They might not provide the excitement of adding hundreds of miles in minutes – but with more than half a million pure-electric cars now on UK roads, their part to play in the adoption of electric cars is just as important as their ultra-rapid counterparts.
“It’s crucial that the rollout of high-speed charging hubs continues at pace, alongside the increasing provision of on-street chargers for those without driveways, ideally with local councils engaged along the way.”
