New analysis: Westminster loses top spot for UK charging
And FIVE other revelations from the UK's latest public charge point data
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story today… I look at the latest EV charge point statistics published by the government and pull out my top five takeaways.
Elsewhere… VW moot a new small car, Ofgem comes out in support of zonal pricing, and JLR warns about the ZEV mandate affecting UK investment.
As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please do get in touch by replying to this email or using the links below.
Before we get into it… I wanted to flag an event being hosted by Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK) later this month which I believe many of you operating in, around, or for the industry might like to attend. The organisation is launching a report on the true cost of EV ownership. It’s being hosted at Octopus Energy HQ on 27 February and an array of experts will be attending, including moi!
If you want to join, you need to email EVUK to request an invite.
Hopefully see you there!
Five revelations from the latest UK charge point statistics
Summary: Last Wednesday, the Department for Transport published the latest set of ‘official’ statistics on public EV charge points. The latest drop reports on data up to 1 January 2025 and is the first time we’ve had a government release since the Summer last year, as the previous quarterly release due in October was delayed due to a data issue that affected 250 devices in Scotland.
I’ve been digging around in the six months of new data, and here are my top five takeaways…
1. Westminster loses crown as top spot for chargers in UK
After nearly five years of consistently sitting at the top of the league table in the UK for hosting the highest number of public EV chargers, Westminster is starting 2025 having missed out on the top spot to Hammersmith & Fulham.
As of January 2025… Westminster had a total of 2,653 charge points. By comparison, Hammersmith pipped them to the post with 2,668 - so only 15 more.
While Westminster was one of the early adopters of innovative on-street chargers, such as those in lampposts, other London boroughs, such as Hammersmith & Fulham, Richmond, Hackney, and others, have continued to carpet bomb their streets with them.
However… in the case of Westminster specifically, it appears actually to be a bit worse. They started 2024 with 2,724 public chargers. That means, over last year, the number of chargers they had shrunk by -3%. Aka, there are 71 fewer devices in total.
So, what’s happened? I got in touch with Westminster Council who appeared equally perplexed. They made clear the government statistics weren’t data they rely on and instead they keep their own figures. But, the figures they ended up giving me were even lower than what the government had. Westminster reckons it has 2,200 lamppost chargers, 230 ‘fast chargers’, and 31 rapid chargers - a total of 2,461. The reason DfT’s are higher is they include off-street chargers.
In any case… Westminster Council acknowledged a lamppost upgrade programme was underway, which was taking many chargers offline. Either way, Hammersmith & Fulham now has Westminster’s crown.
2. Several London boroughs seem to flatline or fall
It’s not just Westminster that had a poor year last year, out of the 32 London Boroughs (+ City of London), a total of six had either negative or zero growth last year, and a further seven had under 10% annual growth.
I’ve copied a table below, though it’s quite evident that across a lot of London Boroughs, the installation of charge points has been slow. While the number of chargers across the capital still represents an eyewatering 30% of all those in the UK, the growth last year was only 20% (aka, 3,684 were added). This is significantly lower compared to 2023 to 2024 when the rate was 61% and 6,995 devices were added.
Not all boroughs are equal though. As my rather mad chart below suggests, some areas have gone gangbusters. Notably, Hackney has jumped from having 389 chargers in January 2024 to 1,084 in this latest 2025 batch. That made Hackney the UK’s second-fastest-growing location for EV chargers last year.
One of the London areas that did not have a good year was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. According to the government, who use data from Zapmap, they went from having 875 to 874 in a year. The council, however, much like Westminster, disputed these figures. They do not trust the data and have previously challenged DfT on how these figures are put together.
A spokesperson for RBKC responded saying: “Our figures show that the number of chargers in the borough has increased to 921 since Jan-24.” However, they also acknowledged, “Growth in the number of EV chargers installed has been slower than expected due to delays to our LEVI funding.” I would have hoped all the changes to open data would have provided a bit more ‘one source of truth’ on all this by now.
3. The UK added large numbers though the pace slows
Across the board, last year the country officially ended with 73,334 chargers being available. That’s a huge growth of 19,657 devices over the year - or 37% year-on-year.
Though, what’s interesting is how the pace has changed. In the final quarter of the year, only 3,292 devices were added, which is a 5% rise, and only represents 17% of the whole of last year’s additions. Hopefully though, as I tend to find with most businesses, that’s a case of people winding down for Christmas, rather than an indicator of any worrying change in pace. It will be interesting to see how next quarter’s look though...
4. Six in ten public chargers don’t require contactless
Over the past year, we’ve started seeing more and more of the UK’s consumer regulations for public EV chargers come into force. These regulations are important because they are meant to ensure the UK’s charging network is as seamless and easy to use as possible.
One of the regulations in place requires chargers that are above 8kW to have contactless payments. I believe the lack of contactless remains the biggest bugbear for people today, whether it’s with an EV, parking, or buying a coffee. Not having to download and muck about with apps in the cold is worth its weight in gold.
However… Based on the latest statistics, I do wonder if that definition could do with being refined. According to the government, 57% of all public devices sit in the 3-8kW bracket. That means there are 41,800 chargers open to the public right now that sit out of scope. While I know many chargers under 8kW do offer contactless, many more do not. In my opinion, we are at the point where the size of those out of scope is too big. And that’s only going to hurt the transition.
I’ve heard several explanations as to why charging networks disagree. For example, some say if you have a charger on your street that you’ll use regularly, an app makes sense, and may even save you money. Likewise, the cost of adding contactless to these chargers wouldn’t make financial sense for operators.
But, I disagree. Contactless should be the default to be considered first. I think unless an operator can explain to a local authority or landlord why they cannot offer contactless on their devices, then they shouldn’t be allowed to get a contract. I buy a pint of milk weekly from the same bloke. He doesn’t make me use an app, why are chargers different?
5. Northern Ireland added 215 devices in a year
Whenever I’ve stopped to think about it - and I have thought about it - I’ve never understood why the island of Ireland isn’t some sort of beacon of EV ownership. Politics aside, the length of the country is 300 miles, and the width is only 170 or thereabouts. And, honestly, how often are people driving in Ireland putting their car on the ferry to come to the big island?
Perhaps I’m ignorant of this, but it always surprises me how behind Northern Ireland’s figures are when it comes to EV charging capacity. Last year, the country added 215 devices. In total, they only have 680 available across the whole country, with only 164 rapids above 50kW.
Alas… while to me that is woefully behind where they should be, at least it’s an almost 30% increase from last year, so hopefully they are now moving in the right direction.
BONUS… Here’s a table of the 20 areas that added the most EV chargers last year across the whole country…
Have a view on the above or something you feel I missed? Do drop me a line!
Other quick news…
🚙 The Times obtained documents over the weekend that showed JLR sharing a warning about the ZEV mandate with the government, suggesting it could hit UK investment. Read more (paywall).
💡 In a podcast, the CEO of Ofgem said he would welcome a shift to zonal power pricing, which could have positive outcomes for EV drivers. Full story here.
🚘 VW is planning to reveal a new concept next month which will likely be a £17k EV to succeed the UP! Read more.
🆕 Last night the Chinese car brand Xpeng launched officially in the UK. Read a summary here.
💷 New analysis by Zapmap has shown EV owners will spend an extra £85m on UK tax when using public car chargers this year because of a disparity in VAT rates. Read more.
🗑️ Should we ditch ‘confusing’ names of hybrids? That’s what Electric Vehicles UK has suggested this week as part of a ZEV mandate response. Read more.
🔋 UK company Fellten last week launched the Charge Qube, a modular Mobile Battery Energy Storage System, and Mobile Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment that removes the need for planning permission and speeds up installation time. Read more.
📊 Used EVs rose in demand to some 57.4% (or 188,382 vehicles) according to the latest figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Read more.
📝 Finally, a parish notice… there will be no newsletter next week. The Fast Charge will return on 26 February.