Do EV chargers increase footfall at your business?

Research suggests charging can help nearby businesses, but it does not establish a sales uplift for your UK site. A California study estimated a 0.8% increase in annual spending at a nearby establishment in its later study period [S1]. That is spending, not host profit. Keep charging income separate and measure additional visits and purchasing locally. Checked October 2026.

Last checked 16 October 2026

Installing EV chargers could bring more customers to your UK cafe, but the evidence does not establish an uplift for your premises. US studies examine nearby spending and visits, rather than your cafe’s profit [S1], [S2]. Treat them as a reason to test demand locally, measuring additional visits and purchases separately from charging income [S3].

What evidence shows that EV charging can increase business visits?

There is useful research, but it measures different outcomes in different markets. Keep the source, geography, method and outcome together when considering any percentage.

The California study compared changes around new charging installations with matched comparison businesses. Its later period ran from January 2021 to June 2023 [S1]. Recharging Retail used the staggered arrival of charging stations and mobile-phone estimates of visits, with stronger effects for quick-service businesses very close to chargers [S2].

These results give you a reason to test the idea. They do not justify multiplying your existing turnover by a published percentage. The transfer from a research setting to your premises is an inference that needs local evidence.

Read destination versus en-route charging to identify which visits your proposed bays would serve.

Do extra visits mean extra sales or profit?

No automatic conversion should be assumed. Make the steps explicit: charging sessions, people entering your business, transactions, sales and contribution after product costs. A driver can charge without buying, and an existing customer can use a new charger without making an additional visit.

Create separate lines for the charging business and your existing trade. For fully funded charging, record the host’s agreed rent or share as charging income. For part funded charging, record the host’s share after its allocated operating costs. For self funded charging, calculate net charging income after electricity, software, maintenance and other relevant costs.

Then add only measured additional retail contribution as a separate sensitivity case. Do not count the same shop sale as both increased footfall and increased average spending.

The distinction matters even when the charger brings customers onto your land. Revenue received elsewhere on a retail park does not become your own income. Agree what your business can measure and retain.

How can your site measure whether charging attracts new customers?

Plan the measurement before opening. HM Treasury’s evaluation guidance discusses how comparisons can estimate what would have happened without an intervention [S3]. The following is a proposed small-business approach, not a prescribed government trial protocol.

• Choose the outcome you care about: additional transactions, booking contribution or another defined measure.
• Record a baseline covering the trading patterns relevant to your business.
• Use the same counting method after the charger opens.
• Keep an operational log of opening hours, outages, promotions and changes to your business.
• Compare equivalent trading periods and, where feasible, a similar site without a new charger.
• Record the limits of the comparison before interpreting the result.

Ask a short, consistent checkout question about why the visitor came. Offer charging as one option alongside other reasons, rather than asking a leading question about how much the charger helped. Keep non-responses visible instead of assigning them to the charging group.

If a purchase uses a charging discount, record the redeemed offer and its cost. That gives you evidence of a linked purchase, although it does not by itself show that the person would otherwise have stayed away. Avoid building a local test around personal tracking when aggregate operating and till totals can answer the question.

How do you allow for seasonal trade and other changes?

A raw increase after installation may reflect school holidays, a new menu, a road closure ending or a promotion. Write down plausible alternative explanations and look for a comparison that helps distinguish them.

Here is an illustration of the arithmetic, using wholly assumed weekly visit counts.

A simple difference-in-differences calculation is 100 − 80 = 20 visits per week. That subtraction is not proof of a charger effect: the sites must be sufficiently comparable, and the assumptions need checking. Annex A explains the method and the importance of a credible comparison [S3].

Do not describe all 100 extra visits at your premises as charging customers. Nor should you translate the calculated difference straight into profit. Check what those visitors bought and what it cost to serve them.

What should a proposed footfall uplift be worth in your business case?

Work from additional contribution rather than sales. This is an illustration, not a quote or a prediction. Assume charging creates additional buying visits, each spending £12, with a contribution margin of 40% after product costs. Assume 50 trading weeks and £400 of annual offer and administration costs.

These assumptions are deliberately separate from the research findings. They do not include charging revenue, charger capital or extra staffing and occupancy costs. If labour must increase, subtract that cost too. If customers would have visited anyway, reduce the additional-visit input.

Use the charger business-case template to put verified charging costs alongside this optional retail contribution. Check accounting treatment with your accountant. Avoid supporting a long property commitment solely with a retail benefit you have not measured.

What should you do next?

Prepare your visitor counts, trading patterns, opening hours and a clear measurement question. Compare charger utilisation with actual transactions, and read what drivers want from a site before designing the layout.

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