Councils plan to install just 9,300 on-street electric car chargers by 2025

Local councils are planning to install just 9,317 public charge points for electric cars between now and 2025, which threatens to cause a huge ‘bottleneck in adoption’ to plug-in vehicles in the coming years.

An average of 35 chargers per local authority are due to be provided in the next four years with 126 councils currently having no plans to fit any at all, despite the Government making available funds for the installation of 3,600 devices in the next year.

Experts have warned that the serious lack of investment in local infrastructure means it will severely fall behind demand for plug-in cars and will ultimately strangle minsters’ efforts to convince drivers to switch to electric cars ahead of the ban on sale of new petrol and diesel motors from 2030.

Councils failing to bolster charging infrastructure: Research has revealed that local authorities intend to install just 9,300 on-street electric car charging devices between now an 2025

A record 175,082 plug-in models were registered in the UK last year, of which 108,205 were battery electric cars that are heavily reliant on owners having home charging solutions.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, with sales of electric vehicles predicted to boom in the coming years as the ban on sales of new internal-combustion-engined cars nears.

But despite the surge in demand, councils appear reluctant to improve residential charging infrastructure. 

For the 175,000 plug-in models registered in 2020, there will be just one new on-street charger installation per 19 electric and hybrid models between now and 2025. 

This will make life for early adopters without garages and driveways very difficult indeed. 

Motorists without off-street parking are already at a distinct disadvantage for electric car ownership, with just 7,682 public on-street chargers currently installed in the UK, limiting the capacity for drivers to replenish their vehicle’s batteries overnight.

In a bid to improve infrastructure, the government announced last January £10million in funding for the installation of charge points on residential streets in 2021. 

This was estimated to cover the cost of 3,600 new devices across the country to ‘make charging at home and overnight easier for those without an off-street parking space’. 

A lack of charging infrastructure, especially for those without off-street parking, is one of the biggest hurdles stopping motorists switching to EVs

A lack of charging infrastructure, especially for those without off-street parking, is one of the biggest hurdles stopping motorists switching to EVs

Motorists without off-street parking and interested in having an on-street charger on their road were told to contact their local authority, who could then make a request for the available funds.

Records show that councils received 2,835 requests in 2019 and a further 2,989 calls for devices to be installed in the first eight months of 2020. 

However, the research by energy service Centrica says that councils intend to install just 3,493 devices in addition to those requested by drivers via local authorities in the next four years.

Incredibly, some 126 out of over 400 councils that received the firm’s Freedom of Information request about future on-street charger installations said they have no plans to fit any ahead of 2025.

These authorities include the likes of Hounslow, Nottinghamshire, Sunderland, Waltham Forest and West Lancashire (see the full list at the bottom of this page). 

There’s also a significant disparity between regions across the UK, with local authorities in the South of England intending to installed 2.5-times more public devices compared to those in Northern England, the Midlands, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined, with 6,713 compared to 2,604 respectively.

Latest figures already show that southern councils have added 1,203 more chargers to their streets over the last three years than their northern counterparts. 

TOP 10 COUNCILS INTENDING TO FIT THE MOST ON-STREET EV CHARGERS 
Council Chargers per 100,000 people to be installed by 2025 Current on-street chargers
Westminster 500.2 497
Kent 240.3 201
Stirling 156 56
Plymouth 122.1 33
Haringey 111.7 N/A
York 97.8 23
Gwynedd 80.3 N/A
Richmond upon Thames 70.7 227
Hackney 65.8 116
Brent 64 149
Source: Centrica FOI request to councils    

In terms of future devices, Westminster tops the list of councils planning to retrofit its roads with the most on-street chargers.

It looks set to bolster its current availability of 497 charge points to 500.2 per 100,000 local residents by 2025.

Kent and Stirling council followed with the biggest volume of new chargers being promised by 2025.  

Centrica, which also polled 2,000 UK drivers about the current and future charging infrastructure and found that half who are not considering buying an electric vehicle blamed the lack of access to on-street or public charging points in their area.

More than three quarters of motorists surveyed said that investment into more on-street charging points in urban areas would encourage more drivers without a driveway to go electric, as did a further three quarters who also said that the same investment in rural areas would boost local EV adoption.

Westminster tops the list of councils planning to retrofit its roads with the most on-street chargers, with looks set to bolster its current availability of 497 charge points to 500.2 per 100,000 local residents by 2025

Westminster tops the list of councils planning to retrofit its roads with the most on-street chargers, with looks set to bolster its current availability of 497 charge points to 500.2 per 100,000 local residents by 2025

Amanda Stretton, sustainable transport editor at Centrica, said: ‘The latest figures released today demonstrate the need for all UK councils to play their part in helping to achieve the 2030 ban. 

‘Whilst it’s great news that the government are providing initiatives to make the transition more affordable, cost isn’t the only barrier. 

‘With half of drivers attributing lack of chargers as the main reason preventing them from purchasing an EV, it’s unfair that those without a driveway risk getting left behind.’

She added: ‘Charging infrastructure and energy systems will need be upgraded to cope with the demand and support drivers. 

‘For example, we are working with businesses to install smart charging systems which help automate charging at times which does not put pressure on the grid. This helps regulate demand and ensures customers get the best deal on electricity prices.’

While the availability of local on-street chargers dwindles, there are more than 36,700 public chargers at 13,300-plus locations in the UK, including those at petrol stations, hotels, supermarkets and dedicated charging stations, according to Zap-Map’s latest data.

‘Motorists won’t switch to EVs until they cost less than £20,000’ 

Centrica’s poll also found evidence of drivers being reluctant to switch to an EV due to the high cost of the cars.

More than two thirds (61 per cent) of motorists it surveyed said electric vehicles are too expensive for them, while concerns about battery life (48 per cent) and range anxiety (42 per cent) were also weighing on the mind of drivers.

The question is: how far does the price of new battery electric cars need to fall in order for more people to want them?

Deloitte reckons the sweet-spot figure is £20,000 or less, according to its latest Global Automotive Consumer Survey. of 1,500 driving-age consumers in the UK.  

Pay-by-phone parking provider, RingGo, said the lack of council device installations will ‘undoubtedly continue to cause a bottleneck in adoption’ of electric vehicles. 

Peter O’Driscoll, managing director, told This is Money: ‘It lines up with a recent survey of UK drivers that we did which found over 30 per cent of those open to switching to an electric car still feel there needs to be greater availability of charging facilities to fully commit.

‘We cannot put the onus on councils alone to create the infrastructure to support electric vehicles, it has to be a team effort. 

‘There needs to be education about not only the capabilities of electric vehicles – the distance they can travel, how often they need to be charged and the cost saving associated – but also the tools available to find charging points across the country.’

RingGo currently provides details of which of its car parks have charging points for EVs, with information about the device so each driver knows if it is compatible with their car. 

It also plans to introduce a service where EV owners can pay for their parking and charging from its smartphone app.

‘We believe that electric vehicles are the right choice for motorists and we will continue working to make it a simple choice,’ Mr O’Driscoll added.

COUNCILS (A-Z) WITH NO PLANS TO INSTALL NEW ON-STREET CHARGER BETWEEN NOW AND 2025 
Council Number of current on-street chargers
Allerdale 0
Ards and North Down 2
Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon 4
Arun 4
Ashfield 4
Bedford 52
Blackburn with Darwen 28
Blaenau Gwent 19
Bolsover 1
Bolton 0
Boston 24
Bracknell Forest 8
Bridgend 8
Broadland 0
Caerphilly 33
Central Bedfordshire 0
Ceredigion 4
Charnwood 4
Chelmsford 4
Cheshire East 22
Chesterfield 23
Chichester 21
Chorley 6
Copeland 14
Corby 28
Cotswold 4
Crawley 5
Cumbria 14
Dacorum 9
Darlington 0
Derbyshire Dales 26
Dudley 3
Dumfries and Galloway 0
East Ayrshire 36
East Cambridgeshire 2
East Hampshire 5
East Suffolk 8
Eastbourne 0
Epsom and Ewell 1
Erewash 0
Essex 7
Fenland 0
Fermanagh & Omagh 21
Forest of Dean 0
Gedling 9
Gloucester 4
Guildford 7
Halton 8
Hart 0
Hartlepool 42
Havant 3
Havering 0
Hertsmere 5
High Peak 7
Highland 56
Hillingdon 30
Horsham 4
Hounslow 187
Huntingdonshire 0
Kettering 6
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk 4
Lincoln 18
Lisburn 7
Liverpool 0
Maidstone 9
Malvern Hills 6
Mansfield 18
Melton 2
Mendip 0
Merthyr Tydfil 2
Mid Suffolk 2
Middlesbrough 16
Newport 25
North East Derbyshire 11
North East Lincolnshire 2
North Kesteven 4
North Lanarkshire 28
North Norfolk 16
North Tyneside 11
Norwich 7
Nottinghamshire 65
Nuneaton and Bedworth 1
Oldham 0
Orkney Islands 27
Oxford 34
Perth and Kinross 54
Redcar and Cleveland 2
Reigate and Banstead 15
Richmondshire 0
Rother 0
Rotherham 30
Rugby 0
Rutland 1
Selby 0
Sevenoaks 0
Shetland Islands 14
South Holland 3
South Kesteven 6
South Northamptonshire 1
Southampton 52
Southend-on-Sea 12
Spelthorne 12
Stratford-on-Avon 4
Sunderland 123
Surrey Heath 2
Tandridge 0
Telford and Wrekin 3
Tendring 2
Test Valley 18
Tewkesbury 4
Thanet 8
Torbay 0
Torridge 4
Trafford 29
Waltham Forest 100
Warrington 16
West Dunbartonshire 6
West Lancashire 68
West Oxfordshire 0
West Sussex 0
Wigan 10
Wiltshire 32
Windsor and Maidenhead 16
Worthing 5
Wyre 2
Wyre Forest 0
Source: Centrica FOI request to councils  

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