EV charging
EV charging and electric car statistics
Public chargers, rapid chargers and electric car ownership across the UK, from Department for Transport charger statistics, DVLA licensing records and ONS population estimates.
- Public chargers 121,171 1 July 2026, UK
- Rapid and ultra-rapid (50kW+) 28,887 23.8% of public chargers
- Chargers per 100,000 people 175 42 of them 50kW+
- Battery electric cars 2,016,968 5.8% of licensed cars
- Plug-in cars 3,042,428 8.7% of cars, with plug-in hybrids
- Private plug-in cars per charger 12.9 cars at the end of March, chargers on 1 April
Find EV chargers near you
Public chargers from Open Charge Map and OpenStreetMap. Your search and location stay in your browser.
How many public chargers are there?
There were 121,171 public EV chargers in the UK on 1 July 2026, up 17.9% from 102,771 on 1 January 2025. 28,887 of them charge at 50kW or more.
Public chargers per 100,000 people
Quarterly from January 2025, using ONS mid-2024 population throughout, as DfT does.
| Date | United Kingdom | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2025 | 148 | 147 | 149 | 196 | 54 |
| Apr 2025 | 153 | 150 | 155 | 210 | 54 |
| Jul 2025 | 159 | 157 | 164 | 218 | 55 |
| Oct 2025 | 165 | 163 | 176 | 221 | 59 |
| Jan 2026 | 168 | 166 | 177 | 218 | 57 |
| Apr 2026 | 172 | 170 | 179 | 228 | 59 |
| Jul 2026 | 175 | 173 | 185 | 232 | 60 |
Source:DfT 1 July 2026 Updated
Chargers by power
Standard 3–8kW, standard plus 8–50kW, rapid 50–150kW, ultra-rapid 150kW and above.
| Date | Standard | Standard plus | Rapid | Ultra-rapid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | 57,807 | 31,867 | 14,451 | 11,927 |
| Apr 2026 | 60,039 | 31,669 | 14,451 | 12,921 |
| Jul 2026 | 59,587 | 32,697 | 14,891 | 13,996 |
Source:DfT 1 July 2026 Updated
Electric cars on the road
2,016,968 battery electric cars were licensed in the UK at the end of June 2026, 5.8% of all cars, and 1,025,460 plug-in hybrids. Among privately kept cars the battery electric share is 3.1%: companies, including leasing firms, keep 50.8% of battery electric cars but 10.0% of all cars.
Battery electric share of licensed cars
End of March each year. Northern Ireland figures start in 2015.
| Year | United Kingdom | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2017 | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2018 | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| 2019 | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| 2020 | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| 2021 | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.3% |
| 2022 | 1.5% | 1.6% | 0.6% | 1.2% | 0.6% |
| 2023 | 2.3% | 2.5% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 1.1% |
| 2024 | 3.2% | 3.5% | 1.5% | 2.5% | 1.6% |
| 2025 | 4.4% | 4.7% | 2.2% | 3.4% | 2.3% |
| 2026 | 5.8% | 6.2% | 3.1% | 4.5% | 3.1% |
Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated
Nations and regions
Sorted by chargers per 100,000 people. London has the most for its population (345) and Northern Ireland the fewest (60).
| London | 345 | 7.0% |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 232 | 4.5% |
| Wales | 186 | 3.1% |
| West Midlands | 164 | 3.7% |
| South East | 159 | 9.3% |
| South West | 157 | 5.2% |
| North East | 150 | 3.6% |
| East of England | 150 | 5.6% |
| East Midlands | 122 | 4.3% |
| North West | 112 | 6.6% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 111 | 5.5% |
| Northern Ireland | 60 | 3.1% |
| United Kingdom | 175 | 5.8% |
Council rankings
The 359 UK councils with at least 10,000 privately kept cars (2 smaller ones are left out, because a handful of cars or chargers swings their figures). Chargers per head use ONS mid-2024 population. The electric share uses privately kept cars, which are registered at home, because company fleets registered at a leasing firm’s address push some councils far above their real level. Every council’s own page has the full figures.
Most public chargers per 100,000 people
| Council | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|
| Hammersmith and Fulham 2,603 chargers | 1,380 |
| Westminster 2,893 chargers | 1,378 |
| Tower Hamlets 2,574 chargers | 776 |
| Coventry 2,644 chargers | 717 |
| Waltham Forest 1,855 chargers | 663 |
| Richmond upon Thames 1,263 chargers | 642 |
| Hackney 1,701 chargers | 638 |
| Kensington and Chelsea 921 chargers | 637 |
| Southwark 1,945 chargers | 618 |
| East Lothian 691 chargers | 600 |
Source:DfT 1 July 2026 Updated
Fewest public chargers per 100,000 people
| Council | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|
| North East Derbyshire 40 chargers | 38 |
| Castle Point 38 chargers | 42 |
| Derry City and Strabane 67 chargers | 44 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon 103 chargers | 46 |
| Ards and North Down 81 chargers | 49 |
| Southend-on-Sea 95 chargers | 51 |
| Hastings 47 chargers | 52 |
| Mid Ulster 80 chargers | 52 |
| Fenland 56 chargers | 53 |
| Mid and East Antrim 75 chargers | 54 |
Source:DfT 1 July 2026 Updated
Highest electric share of private cars
| Council | Share |
|---|---|
| Westminster 2,901 cars | 7.7% |
| Camden 2,618 cars | 7.6% |
| Kensington and Chelsea 2,303 cars | 6.7% |
| Rushcliffe 3,557 cars | 5.5% |
| South Cambridgeshire 5,062 cars | 5.4% |
| Barnet 7,024 cars | 5.4% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham 1,952 cars | 5.2% |
| Wokingham 5,152 cars | 5.1% |
| St Albans 3,812 cars | 5.0% |
| East Renfrewshire 2,330 cars | 4.9% |
Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated
Lowest electric share of private cars
| Council | Share |
|---|---|
| Fermanagh and Omagh 441 cars | 0.7% |
| Derry City and Strabane 616 cars | 0.8% |
| Mid Ulster 644 cars | 0.8% |
| Causeway Coast and Glens 788 cars | 1.0% |
| Newry, Mourne and Down 1,122 cars | 1.1% |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon 1,491 cars | 1.2% |
| Na h-Eileanan Siar 177 cars | 1.3% |
| Blaenau Gwent 510 cars | 1.5% |
| Mid and East Antrim 1,115 cars | 1.5% |
| Belfast 1,980 cars | 1.6% |
Source:DfT / DVLA End of June 2026 Updated
Most private plug-in cars per public charger
Where public chargers are shared between the most privately kept plug-in cars. Plenty of drivers in these areas charge at home.
| Council | Cars per charger |
|---|---|
| North East Derbyshire 40 chargers | 76.8 |
| Melton 34 chargers | 53.1 |
| Fareham 71 chargers | 52.0 |
| Castle Point 38 chargers | 51.7 |
| Maldon 42 chargers | 49.5 |
| Lichfield 84 chargers | 47.6 |
| East Hampshire 109 chargers | 45.1 |
| West Lindsey 69 chargers | 43.7 |
| East Renfrewshire 82 chargers | 43.0 |
| Bromley 225 chargers | 42.1 |
Source:DfT 1 July 2026 Updated
Compare every council on the locations page.
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public chargers | Electric vehicle public charging infrastructure statistics Department for Transport | 1 July 2026 | 121,171 public chargers (UK) | 26 October 2026 |
| Plug-in and electric cars | Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport | End of June 2026 | 3,226,911 plug-in vehicles | 26 October 2026 |
| Population | Mid-year population estimates Office for National Statistics | Mid-2024 | 404 areas | 26 October 2026 |
- Charger counts cover the whole UK and are based on Zapmap data: official statistics in development. Council figures start in January 2026, regions and nations in January 2025.
- One charge point operator (CPO) removed approximately 1,270 EV chargers from their publicly available open charging data in June 2026. These were private access chargers reported improperly as public chargers in this CPO's data feed. Comparisons drawn between July and April statistics may be affected by chargers that were removed from the data by this CPO. This does not reflect an increase in the number of chargers being uninstalled or decommissioned and instead it reflects an improvement to the quality of reporting.
- A reduction in chargers categorised as standard plus between 1 January 2026 and 1 April 2026 is likely to be due to an error in a data feed from one chargepoint operator who reclassified a number of standard plus chargers as standard.
- Plug-in cars are battery electric, plug-in hybrid and range-extended cars. Licensing figures cover the UK; Northern Ireland starts in 2014.
- Vehicles are counted at the registered keeper’s postcode, so company cars are counted where the company is registered.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
