Great news! The UK now has more public EV chargers than fuel pump nozzles. “More than 118,000 public charge points are now available nationwide compared with around 60,800 fuel pumps, according to new data released alongside the government-backed Electric Road Trip campaign.”
Last week I traded in my plug-in hybrid (VW Passat GTE) for an ex-demo EV (VW ID.7), and took it across the country from Bristol to London Stansted return over the weekend. It was 10 miles short on range for the full 300 mile journey. The in-car map showed chargers everywhere. I stopped at a services at Reading (half-way back to Bristol), plugged into a high speed charger (120kW), swiped my credit card (no app necessary), bought my kids some burgers, used the facilities, and it had already charged to over 50% – way more than enough to get home, during a stop I needed to make anyway. EV use is so easy now, and with the average price of a new electric car being lower than for an combustion car, the looming fuel shortage, the far lower maintenance and running costs (it costs me around £5 to charge my car on an overnight tariff from Octopus Energy), it’s a no-brainer.
You don’t even have to use a public charger – Co Charger allows people to share their home chargers. There are three in my suburban street. Charge overnight at your neighbours’ house and go.
“… the analysis highlights the significance of private charging networks, revealing that the UK currently has 809,181 home chargers….”
That’s nearly 1 million chargers.
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