Cybersecurity and firmware reliability are becoming critical priorities across the UK electric vehicle (EV) charging sector, according to findings by smart EV charging consultancy Versinetic.
The research draws on responses from professionals working in charger design and manufacture, charge point operations, fleet and site charging, installation, maintenance, technical support and managed services.
Versinetic’s report, When Charging Updates Go Wrong: A 2026 UK EV Charging Firmware Insight Study, finds that firmware problems are routine rather than rare – and that the industry is increasingly focused on securing the update process.
Cybersecurity emerged as the clearest future priority. Stronger cybersecurity and signed firmware was named the top priority for the next three to five years by 59% of respondents, ahead of the other capabilities tested.
64% are at least “moderately” concerned about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in charger firmware and software today, while 47% are “very” or “extremely” concerned specifically about weak or missing signing or verification of firmware updates.
Only 4% said known firmware bugs had not affected any charging sessions in the previous 12 months – meaning 96% reported at least some impact. Nearly seven in ten respondents (69%) said at least 5% of their firmware updates had caused a noticeable issue in the past year, while more than half (57%) reported that firmware problems had delayed a certification or commercial launch over the past two years.
The majority (54%) rate their own firmware readiness as ahead of peers, only 11% say they are well ahead.
Julian Skidmore, EV Industry Analyst at Versinetic and author of the study, said:
“The next step for the industry is to make firmware management as disciplined as the rest of charger engineering. That means designing security into the update chain, testing against real-world conditions, staging releases carefully and making rollback a proven part of the process. As charging estates scale, repeatable firmware practices will be essential to protecting uptime, accelerating launches and maintaining driver trust.”
Dunstan Power, Managing Director of Versinetic, added:
“An EV charger is no longer just power electronics in a box. It’s a connected product with a software lifecycle, and if that lifecycle is weak, uptime, security and customer trust all suffer.
“Most of the teams in this study want to do the right thing on firmware, but few have turned that into a repeatable process. The businesses that give firmware a named owner, and treat it as core engineering work, are better placed to scale.”
Image of report courtesy of Versinetic
