EV infrastructure refers to the combination of structures, machinery, and equipment necessary and integral to support a EV, including battery chargers, rapid chargers, and battery exchange stations.
How is the UK faring with building the necessary support structure for EVs? A new survey finds that Coventry tops the list, with 842.02 public chargers per 1,000 ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs).
This ranking was determined by comparing the number of publicly available chargers to the number of ULEVs in each area, coming from the firm Beck Evans. The company analysed the ratio of public charging points to ULEVs across every local authority in the UK, calculating the total per 1,000 vehicles. The results were ranked from the highest ratio to the lowest.
The top ten were found to be:
- Coventry
- Southwark
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Wandsworth
- Hackney
- Waltham Forest
- Watford
- Na h-Eileanan Siar
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Blaenau Gwent
The number of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) was sourced from the Home Office, while data on publicly available charging points was obtained from the UK Parliament.
To ensure accuracy, the data was filtered to include only ‘battery electric’ vehicles and the total number of chargers.
The next ten were:
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Islington
- Richmond upon Thames
- Merton
- Lambeth
- Ceredigion
- Lincoln
- Brent
- Liverpool
- Reading
As indicated above, Coventry tops the list with 2,084 publicly available charging points, resulting in a ratio of 842.02 per 1,000 vehicles. With 2,475 registered ULEVs, the West Midlands city is leading the charge on electric vehicle infrastructure.
Southwark, in South London, ranks second with a ratio of 554.09 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs. The district has 1,844 public chargers, serving 3,328 ULEVs. In third place, Hammersmith and Fulham in West London has a ratio of 467.51 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs, with 2,662 public chargers for 5,694 vehicles.
Wandsworth, also in South London, follows in fourth place with a ratio of 458.16 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs, offering 1,451 chargers for its 3,167 vehicles. Rounding out the top five, in Northeast London, Hackney has a ratio of 426.84 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs, providing 598 chargers for 1,401 vehicles.
In sixth place, Waltham Forest in outer London has a ratio of 423.46 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs, with 686 public chargers for 1,620 vehicles. Watford in Hertfordshire follows in seventh place with a ratio of 352.20 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs, offering 392 chargers for its 1,113 vehicles.
Na h-Eileanan Siar, otherwise known as the Western Isles, places eighth with a ratio of 350.65 chargers per 1,000 ULEVs. Kensington and Chelsea follow in ninth place with 315.46, and Blaenau Gwent rounds out the top ten with 310.10.
Some areas are rising above others to combat significant charging infrastructure shortages and here the densely populated London boroughs dominate the top ten, but other areas stand to compete with them, like Coventry which topped the list.
