Analysis from Allstar’s nationwide charging network of more than 19,000 chargepoints has shown that of the two main holiday periods, Easter is around a third busier for the electric vehicle charging network than Christmas.
It also revealed more than half a million charging events, with the two busiest days for public charging in the lead-up to the holiday on the Wednesday and Thursday, before Good Friday.
Despite all the hype about long queues over the bank holiday period as electric vehicle drivers make their escape to traditional destinations such as Cornwall, Devon and Norfolk, Good Friday, Saturday, Easter Sunday and bank holiday Monday saw around half as many charges taking place compared to the days before and after.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Easter Sunday was the quietest day for public charging of the entire two week long holiday period, with just over a third of the volume of charges of the Thursday before Good Friday.
However, Easter is far busier than the Christmas holidays when it comes to charging. Allstar’s figures show that for the 14-day festive period preceding last Easter, there were a third less plug-ins.
Even Christmas Eve, typically one of the busiest days on Britain’s roads, was quieter than every day over the Easter period for public charging. In fact, the highest volume of charging over Christmas took place in the week before, and then remained at around half that level from the 24th right through to the New Year.
Easter, on the other hand, was back to typically high levels of usage on the Tuesday after Bank Holiday.
Ashley Tate, MD Allstar Chargepass said: “Understanding how busy holiday periods get for charging is one of the new challenges for electric vehicle drivers, and our data will help to inform this. Also, as one of the largest EV networks in the UK with more than 19,000 charge points, now including the Tesla Supercharger network, electric vehicle drivers have many options about how they charge with Allstar.”
