The rate of installation grown from an average of 1,400 chargers a month in 2023 to 1,650/month in 2024, said Zapmap, and there are now over 14,000 chargers rated at over 50kW.
Highest growth has been in chargers for drivers seeking to recharge quickly on longer journeys: charging hubs and ≥150kW (‘ultra-rapid’) chargers.
There were 537 charging hubs by the end of 2024, spread across motorway service areas, retail parks, car parks and farm shops, and ultra-rapid chargers number over 7,000, up by 84% compared with the end of 2023.
| UK chargers by power rating |
Charger count year-end Dec 2023 |
Charger count year-end Dec 2024 |
Year-on-year growth |
| <50kW (‘slow’, ‘fast’) | 43,466 | 59,288 | 36% |
| 50kW – 149kW (‘rapid’) | 6,289 | 7,450 | 19% |
| >150kW (‘ultra rapid’) | 3,825 | 7,021 | 83% |
| hubs (≥6 rapid or ultra rapid) | 264 | 537 | 103% |
| Total | 53,580 | 73,699 | 38% |
‘slow’ chargers are rated up to 8kW and ‘fast’ are <8kW and <50kW
Regionally, Northern Ireland, Wales and the North West lag in the installation of ≥50kW chargers, with the latter two making good progress over the course of 2024 said Zapmap.
Destination chargers – ‘charge where you stop’ rather than ‘stop to charge’ gained 12,000 units in 2024, on sites including restaurants, hotels, retail car parks and leisure areas.
Growth in on-street chargers – for EVs without off-street parking – is uneven, with 72% of them installed in Greater London. Zapmap predicts a more equitable distribution towards the end of 2025 as government-funded LEVI (local EV infrastructure) projects starting to bear fruit.
| Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers by UK region |
Charger count year-end Dec 2023* |
Charger count year-end Dec 2024 |
Year-on-year growth* |
| Channel Islands & Isle of Man |
9 | 11 | 22.2% |
| East Midlands | 855 | 1,093 | 27.8% |
| East of England | 937 | 1,499 | 60.0% |
| Greater London | 1,053 | 1,341 | 27.4% |
| North East | 369 | 501 | 35.8% |
| North West | 972 | 1,509 | 55.2% |
| Northern Ireland | 78 | 164 | 110.3% |
| Scotland | 1,171 | 1,578 | 34.8% |
| South East | 1,393 | 2,118 | 52.0% |
| South West | 981 | 1,450 | 47.8% |
| Wales | 438 | 636 | 45.2% |
| West Midlands | 1,074 | 1,462 | 36.1% |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 784 | 1,109 | 41.5% |
| Total | 10,114 | 14,471 | 43.1% |
* Zapmap: “A change to power rating bands means that figures for 2023 will not correlate accurately with last year’s statistics”.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, according to Zapmap, reported that more than 380,000 pure-electric cars were sold in the UK in 2024, that is over 19% of all new cars, bringing the pure-electric car total to 1,360,802.
“Last year was another record year for charging infrastructure growth, with en-route charging points in particular being installed ahead of the growth in electric vehicle sales,” said Zapmap co-founder and COO Melanie Shufflebotham. “As we move into 2025, we can expect to see the benefits of the PCPR [government charger regulations] coming into effect, combined with the impact of LEVI-funded projects reaching local authorities, bringing more equitable access to charging devices.”
The Zapmap app is intended to assist EV drivers to search for chargers, plan journeys and pay for charging. It currently claims more than one million users. “Zapmap has mapped over 95% of the UK’s public points on its network, over 75% of which show 24/7 live status data,” said the company.
Figures above are from a 31 December 2024 Zapmap’s database snapshot.
