Electric car chargepoints are in fewer than HALF of commuter car parks

Less than half of all commuter car parks in the UK have charging stations for electric vehicles, according to a new study.

Only 44 percent of all major business parks, popular train stations and park and ride locations in major cities were found to offer charging facilities, in the latest damning report on the country’s flawed public infrastructure.

The survey found that of the 12,000 parking spaces checked, less than one percent had a charging point for electric cars.

The study was conducted by the Electric Car Scheme in its inaugural Commuter Parking Report – yet another piece of research showing the UK urgently needs to do more to help motorists make the switch to electric vehicles, ahead of the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars.

With more than a third of properties in the UK without off-street parking, millions of future motorists will depend on the ability to charge their cars on public devices.

However, this latest report proves that charging batteries while working or traveling to cities is not currently a viable option.

With fewer than 36,000 public charging devices currently operational in the UK, the government faces mounting pressure to provide funding and support to local authorities to install thousands more.

MPs have pledged to have 300,000 usable public charging stations by 2030, but currently only about 875 are being added to the infrastructure per month.

To meet its ambitious target by the end of this decade, the government must increase the average number of appliance installations to 3,015 per month – a massive 245 percent increase.

The Electric Car Scheme found that commuter car parks in Scotland offered more charging points to EV owners than those in England, with 60 percent of locations in Scotland having at least one device, compared to 44 percent in England and just 25 percent in Wales.

This reflects the general statistics for the availability of charge points in the UK, with Scotland having 60 charge points per 100,000 people – well above 53 in England.

That said, a recent two-month BBC investigation found that a quarter of charging points in Scotland were out of orderwith EV owners who can’t use them.

Thom Groot, co-founder of the Electric Car Scheme, said infrastructure needed to move much faster to meet the UK’s net-zero targets.

“It is alarming that only one percent of public parking spaces in commuter belts offer charging points, while currently 16 percent of new cars sold are electric,” he said.

“The infrastructure of fossil fuel cars has had a centuries-long lead, so we need everyone to make the transition as smooth as possible.

“People who run park and ride stations or business parks should consider introducing new charging infrastructure.

And the government must act urgently to extend the tax benefit that currently makes leasing new electric cars attractive to employees, which currently expires in 2025.

“Germany has guaranteed a similar rate until 2030, giving those who sign up for multi-year leases much more security as they enter the water first while the infrastructure is not yet fully operational. Why can’t the UK do the same or better?’

Last week, Zap-Map published the results of its annual charging network satisfaction survey – the largest and most informative of its kind for EV drivers in the UK.

Fastned and MFG EV Power jointly scored the highest, based on feedback from 4,300 owners of battery-powered vehicles.

At the other end of the spectrum, it was bad news for two of the biggest oil giants, with BP and Shell – both of which recently announced soaring profits – seeing their networks slip to the bottom of the rankings.