North West leads on EV domestic charging
Data from domestic EV charge point installers Smart Home Charge has revealed motorists from Manchester and the North West led the charge for having the most domestic EV charge points installed last year.
The region accounted for 10.71% of the installations, with the West Midlands following close behind at 10.25%, as well as revealing London isn’t as much of a hotspot as expected.
South West London came in third with 9.62% but South East London was ninth with 5.35% of the total and North West London came 11th with 4.89%.
Northern Ireland was at the bottom of the table with only 0.11% of installations, although Electric Vehicle Association Northern Ireland (EVANI) also recently ran a survey which discovered that the majority of the area’s EV owners were pleased to have made the swtich, with only 1.7% saying they wouldn’t buy an EV again.
The most popular charger was the Easee One, chosen by 48.8% of customers with second place to the Ohme Home Pro and the ePod, with 27.2% of the market.
In London, properties with private parking where a charger can be installed are limited, whereas outside London more motorists are likely to have driveways. In Wales, Northern Scotland, Northern Ireland and the South West demand is lower but this may be because of their more rural locations, where motorists may be concerned about finding a charger when travelling far from home. However using an app such as Zap-Map can help motorists locate public chargers At the end of March 2024 there were 59,590 public EV chargers available at 32,322 locations in the UK.
Danny Morgan, editor at Smart Home charge said:
‘Home charging is the most convenient and economical way to charge an EV, so as EV sales rise, home charger installations will too. However the regional patterns aren’t what many might expect. The perception of EVs is that they are very much concentrated in London and the Home Counties, but as we can see from the data, they are growing in popularity in Manchester and the North West, and in the Midlands.
“This could be for a number of reasons, including the increasing introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZ), which levy charges for polluting cars throughout the UK. For example, the Birmingham CAZ charge is £8 for passenger cars. However electric cars aren’t subject to these charges, which make them an excellent choice for far-sighted motorists.”
James Court, CEO of EVA England said:
“For the 70% of people with access to off-street parking, electric vehicles should be a no-brainer. Being able to charge with the cheapest electricity alongside the convenience of plugging in at home is unsurprisingly proving very popular.”
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