There are now 19,487 public EV charge points across the UK by October 2020, according to government statistics.
The latest round of data from the Department for Transport has shown the growth of the network – including also 3,530 rapid points added.
Since 2015, the number of public charging devices has grown rapidly
with an 18% increase in the year to date (October 2020).
Rapid charging devices have also grown quickly, increasing by nearly ten
times since 2015. In the third quarter of 2020, 1,222 more devices were available in total, up 7% on the previous quarter. 324 of these were rapid devices.
In the North West, the number of total devices available decreased by 4.9% over the quarter, predominantly in the Greater Manchester area. However, total rapid devices in that region increased by 5.7%.
The number of available devices can fluctuate for a range of reasons. Owners and operators can choose to temporarily or permanently decommission or replace devices, or they can be unavailable due to faults, maintenance or other restrictions in the area where they are located.
In every other region, the number of charging devices increased across the quarter to October 2020. The West Midlands saw the largest percentage change but London saw the largest absolute increase of 504 devices which accounted for 41% of all new available devices, further increasing the
unequal geographical distribution in the UK.
Rapid devices increased in each region across the quarter with the smallest percentage increase in Scotland. Despite this, Scotland still has the highest number of rapid chargers per 100,000.
