UK has almost 1M EV chargers, with new public one installed every 25 minutes
The UK’s headline figure of nearly 1 million EV chargers masks that only about 65,000 are public and many vary widely in speed, reliability, and ease of payment. Commenters contrast relatively seamless home and “destination” charging with the stress of relying on sparse, sometimes broken rapid chargers, especially for long trips or for drivers without off‑street parking. They also highlight uneven regional infrastructure, policy-driven incentives and taxes, concerns over EV economics and battery life, and the slow but visible shift of petrol stations and cities toward large-scale electrification.
Charger numbers & reliability
- UK reportedly has ~930k chargers, but only ~65k are public; speeds and uptime aren’t broken down.
- Several commenters argue raw “installed” counts are misleading because many public chargers are broken for months.
- Subsidies often reward installation, not operation; once uptime is tied to subsidies, maintenance improves.
- Concern that some firms are essentially “in the business of installing chargers” rather than running them well.
Home vs public charging behavior
- Consensus: if you have a driveway/garage, EV ownership is easy; you mostly charge at home overnight.
- Many real-world examples of using slow/destination charging at work, hotels, supermarkets, and neighborhood posts.
- Level 1 (120V) is adequate for many US drivers; Level 2 or 230V sockets in Europe/UK give full overnight charges.
- Detached/old garages or long cable runs can make home upgrades costly, but incentives can offset.
Gas stations & oil companies
- Debate why there aren’t more DC fast (L3) chargers at gas stations.
- Arguments: people don’t want to “hang out” at stations for 20–40 minutes; better to charge where they shop or work.
- Practical issues: grid capacity, trenching costs, loss of parking/turnover for convenience stores.
- Some countries (e.g., Germany, UK examples) are already mandating or rolling out high‑power chargers at stations.
Economics & incentives
- Home charging can be dramatically cheaper per mile than petrol; public fast charging can be 4–5× home rates.
- High electricity tariffs in some regions (e.g., parts of California, UK public chargers) erode the cost advantage.
- For low‑mileage drivers, depreciation, higher insurance, and charger install costs can make ICE or hybrids cheaper.
Adoption patterns UK vs Europe
- Some see the UK as lagging “Europe” despite good fundamentals; others note similar new‑sales shares to Germany.
- Proposed reasons: organized anti‑green politics, high share of on‑street parking, low average annual mileage, high power prices, and lingering fears about battery replacement.
- Data cited that ~65% of GB households have or could have off‑street parking, but only a small fraction have chargers.
User experiences: positive & negative
- Positive: several report painless multi‑summer EV road trips across UK/Western Europe, helped by dense DC networks (Ionity, Fastned) and multi‑network cards.
- London and some affluent UK suburbs are described as having reached a “tipping point” with abundant chargers (streetlights, 22kW posts, 250kW hubs).
- Negative: one UK household running a Polestar 2 without a home charger found it a “nightmare” due to slow home‑socket charging, expensive/broken public chargers, and winter range; returned to ICE.
- Non‑Tesla long‑distance travel is often portrayed as stressful: app juggling, broken chargers, and backup plans, versus Tesla’s integrated routing.
Battery longevity & charging speeds
- Multiple anecdotes of high‑mileage Teslas with modest degradation even with heavy supercharger use; fast charging is seen as less harmful than many fear.
- Some still speculate about long‑term costs for used EVs, especially older models with weaker thermal management.
Payment, access & anonymity
- Strong dislike for proprietary apps and “secret club” networks; calls for universal contactless card payment on all chargers.
- Complaints that parking/payment systems are fragmented and often more expensive via phone.
- On anonymity: commenters argue you’re already tracked via pervasive ANPR/CCTV at petrol stations; only basic outlets offer any real anonymity.