Zap-Map, the UK’s leading charge point mapping service, has today released its annual public electric vehicle (EV) charging network satisfaction rankings, with Fastned and MFG EV Power, two ultra-rapid charging networks, coming in joint first place.
During 2022 there has been significant growth in the number of new EV drivers in the UK. There are now around 600,000 pure-electric cars on UK roads, with roughly 200,000 new EV drivers this year. There has also been a parallel increase in the charging infrastructure that supports them.
The UK now has almost 36,000 charging devices, an increasing proportion of which are ultra-rapid chargers ideal for longer journeys. Up until the end of September, there has been a 76% increase in the number of ultra-rapid devices across the country since the same period last year.
While the number of new charging networks entering the market has slowed, the growth of high-power charging hubs across the country and the expansion of options for on-street charging has increased.
Now in its fifth year, the league table comes from Zap-Map’s annual EV charging survey conducted in September 2022. The survey, which is the most established and comprehensive survey of EV drivers in the UK, saw record responses from more than 4,300 EV drivers.
This year, Zap-Map is again awarding a ‘Best EV Charging Network’ accreditation to the top scorers, with the others in the top five also receiving an ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
As part of the survey, respondents rated their overall satisfaction with the networks they use regularly, which is then used to rank each network out of a maximum of five stars. They also rated their level of satisfaction with the networks in five key areas including reliability, ease of use, customer support, value for money and payment options.
In joint-first place overall this year are two ultra-rapid networks, Fastned and MFG EV Power. The two networks, which both provide hubs with multiple chargers at each location, scored highly for reliability and ease of use. As a consequence, they both secured the ‘Best EV Charging Network’ title.
Taking third place this year is rapid network InstaVolt, while Connected Kerb and Osprey come in joint fourth. This resulted in all three networks earning Zap-Map’s ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
The table below shows the full list of Zap-Map users’ most popular public EV charging networks in the UK:
This year there are six new entrants to the league table. European operator Fastned, which has recently been expanding its UK charging network, has opened a handful of ultra-rapid hubs this year and enters the list in joint-first place. This includes Energy Superhub Oxford, Europe’s most powerful EV charging hub.
On-street provider Connected Kerb has shot into joint-fourth position, after rapid growth this year has seen its network expand to more than 1,000 chargers. Zap-Pay partner Mer also makes the league table for the first time, coming joint-seventh alongside Pod Point and ubitricity.
Be.EV, VendElectric and Dragon Charging are also new entrants to the league table, coming in at joint 10th, joint 12th and joint 15th respectively. It is also worth highlighting that ChargePlace Scotland, which holds joint 12th place overall, takes first place for cost, thanks to many of its extensive network of charge points currently being free to use.
Two networks that have slipped down the table since last year areGRIDSERVE Electric Highway and GeniePoint. From joint-fifth last year, GRIDSERVE Electric Highway now comes in at joint10th, while GeniePoint has dropped from 11th place last year to 19th position overall.
The two networks, which both operate a large number of chargers across the country, came lower down in terms of reliability than last year, an area both operators are working hard to improve upon.
Melanie Shufflebotham, Zap-Map co-founder and COO, said: “Already this year we’ve seen huge change across the industry, from strong EV sales through to high growth in ultra-rapid infrastructure, and significant price fluctuations at the charge point due to rising energy costs.
“Despite this, it’s clear that factors such as reliability and ease of use continue to be the most important in contributing to a good charging experience. These should be top priorities across all the UK’s public charging networks.
“However, the Zap-Map survey shows that while many networks provide a dependable, easy-to-use service, others have room for improvement. As EVs increasingly enter the mainstream, it’s crucial that collectively we make public charging as simple and reliable as possible.”
