Charging in West London is 2 years ahead of the South. Why?
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Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
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Anyway, in this free finale… Ali G is still right, the West side (of London) remains the best for EV charging across the capital… Several businesses join forces to encourage more destination charging… And Octopus continues to push its 100,000 charge point figure.
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West London ahead of demand for EV charging - but South slips behind
Context: Last Summer, Cenex published a report with Vauxhall which looked at tons of data to establish how far ahead (or behind) supply and demand for EV charging is across every borough in the country. The report (titled Are we nearly there yet?) also looked at the different charging scenarios, such as near home availability, en route supply, and destination charging. The data has just been updated up to April 2025, and the tool is available here.
Having spent several hours playing with the tool, I ended up focusing on ‘near home’ charging available in London. For me, London remains a real trailblazer for public EV charging - to this day, 3 in 10 public chargers are installed there. That’s both due to most councils being very open to their deployment and, of course, the huge challenges for EV adoption here, not least that the majority of residents do not have a driveway.
What did I find? When Ali G remarked 23 years ago that ‘West side is the best’, he remains accurate, as the average borough in West London is almost two years ahead of its required charging demand. By comparison, the average East London borough was just over a year ahead of demand. Meanwhile, North London boroughs were on average only about 5 months ahead of where they need to be.
Worryingly… While ‘West’, ‘North’ and ‘East’ all had a net positive score; when I used the tool to look at South London, its boroughs were in the negative overall - meaning the EV charging demand is not keeping up with the supply. It’s not by much - only 2 months by my maths - and the South does cover many more boroughs than others. However, reading that the affluent borough of Bromley is 2 years behind on its own, that does seem odd.
Here are my findings using the Cenex tool:
North London (Average borough): Ahead by 0.4 years (or 4-5 months)
East London (Avg.): Ahead by 1.14 years
South London (Avg.): Behind by -0.18 years (or 2 months)
West London (Avg.): Ahead by 1.93 years.
Please note, I did not include Westminster or the City of London in any of these, as they are considered by most to be ‘Central’.
So why is West London so far ahead? In short, those boroughs have gone hell for leather on installing chargers, especially those based in lampposts. In total, by my calculation using the latest official charging data, out of 23,284 devices across London, more than 30% of those are West located (6,881). And, when you throw Brent and Harrow into the mix, that quickly rises to 35%.
By comparison… In East London, their chargers only total 3,388 (or 16% of the whole of London’s installations). Though, despite having about half as many chargers, its boroughs are still on average over a year ahead.
I guess the real question to all this is… why are some parts of London getting their strategies pretty good, and others in the North and South of the capital seemingly a bit lost? Several thoughts spring to my mind…
The type of resident: I appreciate this is a stereotypical view to take, but West London is generally a very affluent part of the city. I used to comment, when living in Hammersmith after the pandemic, households nearby either did one of three things… get a garden office, redo the kitchen, or buy an EV. I know for sure parts of East London have also got their version of this, but probably a red room instead of a shed. In simple terms, Soho House has locations in the West and East. It does not exist in the North or South of the city. I assume CPOs looking at EV registration data saw predictable rises in these areas (and still do).
The type of council: This is an important driver, to pardon the pun. Councils such as Hammersmith were early adopters of EV innovation, such as those in lampposts. Meanwhile, yes, councils like Islington and Camden have got behind the installations, maybe sometimes they haven’t always been joined up with all their policies. I recall once when a street in Islington had numerous lampposts chargers installed on a large road, only for the council to install a cycle lane next to them. Doh! The good news is, with the LEVI funding, a more mature EV market and more residents poking their councils for help, the laggards are only going to quickly improve, especially with the Mayor of London continuing to push in this area (see here from yesterday).
The type of location: Councils and CPOs all clearly look at registrations to help predict utilisation. But are there also softer reasons that have made the case for EV charging easier, and not for any fault of some boroughs? For example, the West has three major motorways that head through it. Not to mention Heathrow Airport sitting within. And then consider that most tourist spots are largely West based. It’s why people like Shell and BP have invested in hubs along the Westway to support taxis. By comparison, the North has one motorway, the East has one, and the South has two. Or… maybe it’s the roads themselves. I mentioned Bromley earlier, and while the Cenex tool suggests it’s behind, in the great formulas used by operators, do they take the view that actually enough people have driveways there for them (and the council) to look at options later? Meanwhile, in places like Fulham, there’s significantly greater demand early.
Those are my quick reflections, which hopefully also carry some useful learnings for others outside London too. I’d be interested in any others that I might be missing here (or if you totally disagree with this).
Latest EV stories…
🎉 Shell Recharge has opened a new ultra-rapid EV hub near London Luton Airport. The site features six 150kW charge points. The new site includes a Co-Op shop with Costa Express vending machines and a hot food counter. It also has free Wi-Fi, toilets and other amenities such as Amazon Lockers and a car wash are also available. Given how close it is to Luton, it’s expected to be very popular with those perhaps doing pick-up or drop-off, especially if they’d hired an EV.
Continued… I also believe this is the first instance where Shell has added the price of its EV chargers to the typical petrol monolith. Image below.
🚘 The BVRLA, the UK leasing association, has teamed up with other organisations to launch a campaign to boost destination charging called ‘Bon Voy Charge’. Full marks for that name. Read more about it here. You’ll notice, on their launch poster, a little ‘mascot’. I understand the group is going to launch a poll soon to decide its name (follow their page for updates). I’m going for Dr Wattson.
Continued… It’s a fun campaign. However, in my view I’m a little unsure why there needs to be a campaign. Government statistics suggest that 49% of all public chargers are already classed as being at ‘destinations’ (aka, at hotels or tourist spots) - that’s 37,435 devices. Additionally, while they do provide reassurance and help people charge when dwelling, I do hope they try sort out the situations where destinations charge people to park, and then separately to plug in. It’s like a secret tax.
🤔 Talking of the power of suitable destination chargers, Robin Heap of Zest has written about how chargers can help high streets in City AM. Read more.
🙏 Lilian Greenwood has suggested the Government is planning a major U-turn on the Expensive Car Supplement that has impacted EVs. She wrote to another MP, “The Government recognises the disproportionate impact of the current VED Expensive Car Supplement threshold for those purchasing zero emission cars from 1 April 2025. We will consider raising the threshold for zero emission cars only at a future fiscal event to make it easier to buy electric cars.” Read more.
👑 From last week, His Majesty has recently bought a Lotus Eletre EV. Read more.
🔋 The Chinese battery behemoth CATL has unveiled 10 new battery swap models with five carmakers. Could this tech be coming back? Read more.
🚗 Talking China, BYD registered 7,231 fully electric cars in Europe last month compared with 7,165 registrations for Tesla, according to Jato Dynamics. Read more (paywall).
🔌 The struggling EV charger maker Pod Point has rebranded. It’s now simply just ‘Pod’. It comes as Pod has an offer from its majority shareholder, EDF, to buy the remaining share. Pod’s biggest new selling point will be offering home chargers as a subscription to drivers. You can see how this will be attractive to a business like EDF looking for new energy revenue streams. Read more.
👉 Great to see Hull and East Riding Councils laying on a ‘let’s go electric’ event for residents on 21 June. Read more.
⚡️ A few weeks ago, you may recall Octopus published a release suggesting there are now 100,000 EV chargers in the UK. That was met by many in the sector with some raised eyebrows - given the official government estimate is around 80,000. However, Octopus is doubling down, having set out their reasons for charging the way we count chargers here. My view remains that it’s a messy area. While a charger, yes, can charge two cars at once. That isn’t simple, as it can turn some rapid chargers into ones that aren’t so rapid.
🏷️ Finally, a quick message to everyone who installs lamppost chargers and lists them on maps. I noticed that on Zapmap, Shell Recharge and Zest suggest they have 5kW of power. However, SureCharge says it’s 4.8kW. And Char.gy list 5.06kW. However, on Electroverse, SureCharge lists 4kW, Shell 3kW, meanwhile Char.gy and Zest advertise 5kW. Should we agree on a power rate?
The BVRLA are absolutely right about campaigning for destination charging. It's incredibly hard to find holiday accommodation with chargers.
You missed one factor for London's vast number of chargers. The people who make and apply the funding rules live there giving local operators an advantage in accessing government funding.