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The UK has taken another step on the road to zero emission driving as new statistics out today (13 December 2023) show over 50,000 public chargepoints have been installed across the country, making it easier and quicker for electric vehicle owners to recharge their cars.聽

Charging options for drivers continue to grow at pace with today鈥檚 stats, produced using data supplied to the department by Zapmap, also showing there are聽44%聽more public chargepoints (52,602) than this time last year.

Today鈥檚 figures come as the UK鈥檚听world-leading path to reaching zero emission vehicles by 2035聽is聽set to come into effect next year. The zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in Great Britain to be zero emission by 2030.

The mandate ensures the country will have the most ambitious regulatory framework for the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) in the world and the 2035 end-of-sale date puts the UK in line with other major global economies, including France, Germany, Sweden and Canada.

This mandate is providing the certainty needed to safeguard skilled British jobs in the car industry and is allowing the private sector to scale up investment in charging infrastructure, helping more drivers make the switch and ensuring the country remains on track to reaching 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030.

Technology and Decarbonisation Minister, Anthony Browne, said:

Passing 50,000 public chargepoints is a key milestone in our journey to zero emission driving and shows the incredible progress we鈥檝e made to provide the infrastructure for drivers to go electric. 聽

With government and private sector investment, we are backing drivers by expanding our charging network 鈥� creating jobs and putting us well on the way to our target of 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030.

The UK continues to be a leader in the transition to net zero, with EVs making up 16% of the car market 鈥� one of the highest shares in Europe and higher than the EU average of 13%.

Our approach has already attracted record investment in gigafactories and聽EV聽manufacturing, including:

• Nissan鈥檚 recent investment of over 拢3 billion to develop 2 new electric vehicles at their Sunderland plant
• Tata鈥檚 investment of over 拢4 billion in a new 40 GWh gigafactory
• BMW鈥檚 investment of 拢600 million to build next-generation MINI EVs in Oxford
• Ford鈥檚 investment of 拢380 million in Halewood to make Electric Drive Units
• Stellantis鈥� 拢100 million investment in Ellesmere Port for EV van production

As part of our聽Plan for drivers, we intend to consult on ways to make installations cheaper and quicker for chargepoint operators,聽review the grid connections process for chargepoints,聽and also聽consult on the expansion of permitted development rights聽to make installations easier. Additionally, the government鈥檚听Connections action plan聽will overhaul the way projects access the electricity grid and reduce delay time, positively impacting all types of connection customers including EV chargepoint operators.

The government also continues to support the rollout of charging infrastructure in local areas. Applications for the first round of the 拢381 million聽尝辞肠补濒听EV聽infrastructure fund聽are currently being assessed. This funding will deliver tens of thousands more chargepoints and transform the availability of charging for drivers without off-street parking.

In addition, the聽On-street residential chargepoint scheme (ORCS)聽is open to all聽UK聽local authorities.聽Grants are also available to help businesses make the transition through the government鈥檚听Workplace charging scheme (WCS), as well as people in flats and rented accommodation through聽the聽Electric vehicle chargepoint grant.

Additionally,聽new laws聽recently came into force to provide EV drivers with easier and more reliable public charging, mandating that prices across chargepoints are transparent, easy to compare and that a large proportion of new public chargepoints have contactless payment options.

The regulations also require that providers open up their data, so drivers can easily find an available chargepoint that meets their needs. This will make it easier for drivers to locate chargepoints, check their charging speeds and determine whether they are working and available for use.