[AUTO] UK's shortage of on-street EV charging highlighted in new study

[Profesoruツ]

The UK's electric car drivers face a postcode lottery when it comes to using on-street charging infrastructure, data has revealed. An analysis undertaken by British home charge point manufacturer Andersen, looking at data from Zap Map and plug-in cars registered by region, shows a huge variance in availability of on-street (residential) charging points depending on where you live. Unsurprisingly, London tops the chart for availability of on-road chargers, with an average of 10 plug-in cars per charge point and 78% of all on-street chargers in the UK. However, availability varies wildly between boroughs: areas such as Wandworth and Westminster are well served, but the study finds there are 237 registered plug-in cars per charger in Redbridge. Next is the North West of England, where one charge point serves 70 cars, with Northern Ireland in third place with 90 cars per charger. While Scotland fairs well, with one charger per 110 plug-in cars, Wales offers one charger per 456 cars. However, the worst region by far is the South West of England, where one charger has to serve 1448 plug-in cars. Yorkshire and The Humber doesn't fair much better and the East Midlands takes the third-worst spot. While these figures don't directly demonstrate demand for on-street chargers, with varying numbers of EVs per region and 80% of EV owners charging at home, they do illustrate the problems facing the one third of UK homeowners who don't have a driveway or garage to charge their EV or PHEV. While only 1 in 6 rural homes don't have this luxury, that figure rises to 60% in some major towns and cities. On street chargers, as opposed to charging stations located at motorway services or hubs, make up a quarter of the country's charging infrastructure. In January, the Department for Transport announced it would double its funding of EV chargers to £10 million, with a focus on residential chargers, in efforts to boost take-up of EVs in urban areas.