How many public EV chargers are there in each UK region?

The UK had 121,171 public EV chargers at July's snapshot [S1]. Regional totals need context: compare chargers per resident, power and access before judging competition around your site. The table below aggregates council records and reconstructs approximate population denominators, with the arithmetic shown. It cannot tell you whether your particular car park will attract charging customers. Checked October 2026.

Last checked 17 October 2026

How many public chargers does each region and nation have?

An EVSE is the part of a device that controls one vehicle’s charging session. It is the counting unit here [S3].

Use this table to place your site in its wider market, then examine the roads and destinations your customers actually use. Counts are the sum of council records for 1 July 2026, grouped using the repository’s regional mapping. The underlying public dataset is DfT’s EVCI series [S2]. Regional hub links follow the table.

Here, electric vehicle is shortened to EV. Power is measured in kilowatts, or kW. The rapid column includes all chargers rated at least 50 kW, including ultra-rapid equipment [S1]. Population rates below are our approximate calculations from the council extract, rounded to one decimal place.

Open your regional hub:

• North East
• North West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• East of England
• London
• South East
• South West
• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland

January rates come directly from the earlier release [S4]. Do not read small rate movements as precise additions: denominators and reporting coverage can change. The July count columns sum to 121,171 public chargers and 28,887 rapid-or-above chargers, matching the national headline [S1]. England’s calculated subtotal is 101,258 and 23,974 respectively; the other rows are nations rather than English regions.

How are chargers per 100,000 people calculated?

The normal calculation is charger count ÷ resident population × 100,000. Never average council rates: a small district would then receive the same weight as a large city. Add the counts and populations first.

For reproducibility, this draft uses src/data/local-authorities.json, grouped by the slugs in src/data/regions.json. The extract contains counts and rounded council rates, but no resident population field. We therefore reconstruct each denominator as council chargers ÷ council rate × 100,000, then add those estimated denominators. All council rates in this extract are positive, so none needs to be dropped [S2].

For example, the East of England’s implied population is approximately 6,575,843. Its calculation is 9,880 ÷ 6,575,843 × 100,000 = 150.2 after rounding. These are derived values, not a newly verified population estimate. Reconstructing a denominator cannot restore precision already lost through rounding.

DfT’s published July Annex A gives 112.1 for the North West and 164.0 for the West Midlands [S1]. The reconstructed rates are 112.2 and 163.9. That small mismatch is why this table labels its rates approximate. Use DfT’s published rates when citing an official regional benchmark; use our method to reproduce this particular council extract.

How is public charging provision changing?

Compare the same unit over time. The national charger total increased from 116,052 in January [S4] to 121,171 in July [S1]. The calculation is 121,171 − 116,052 = 5,119, or 5,119 ÷ 116,052 × 100 = about 4.4% net growth. It is a first-half comparison, not an annual forecast.

DfT also reports a correction: approximately 1,270 incorrectly classified private-access chargers were removed from a public data feed in June [S1]. A statistical reduction therefore need not mean physical equipment was removed. Check the notes before treating a changing count as evidence that a local charging business failed.

The January and July population rates provide a directional regional comparison. For an installation decision, keep a dated record of the nearby sites you are comparing. Return to that record before signing an agreement; the competitors you can see during a feasibility visit may differ from those available when you open.

What do these numbers tell a potential charging host?

Use counts as a starting point for a site visit. They do not measure your passing traffic, customer dwell time, available electrical capacity or willingness to pay. A resident denominator also misses visitors and through traffic. Those are reasons to test a catchment rather than draw a sales forecast from a regional ranking.

Consider these practical checks:

• Match nearby speeds to your visitors’ parking duration. A street charger and a rapid stop serve different trips.
• Record access hours, parking restrictions and payment arrangements at nearby sites.
• Check whether your proposed bays remain useful when customers arrive together.
• Ask what happens to your site case if another charging location opens nearby.
• Keep charging income separate from any unmeasured extra shop or hospitality spending.

Read the regional data hub and use local charging to move from a national comparison to your catchment. Then connect the evidence to charger sizing and dwell time and charger speed.

What should you do next?

Start at the guides hub and site checker. Test energy assumptions against business electricity prices and the charging cost tool. If operating costs drive your decision, explore cutting site energy costs. Bring your parking plan and local competition notes to get matched with an installer that covers your area.

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