Experts warn that funding for on-street charging alone is not enough, with Electrifying.com suggesting that investment must be matched with consistent national guidance to help local authorities install chargers in the right locations.
This would end Britain’s growing charging ‘postcode lottery’. New analysis from Electrifying.com reveals a stark north–south divide. Drivers in London and the South benefit from dense, fast-growing charging networks, while millions elsewhere face patchy provision.
Ginny Buckley, Chief Executive of Electrifying.com: “The scale of the disparity is impossible to ignore. Coventry has over 750 chargers per 100,000 people, every one of the Northern Five has fewer than 100, and Westminster tops the chart with more than 1,300 per 100,000. Not a single area in the top ten is in the North, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
“This isn’t about geography – it’s about consistency. Some councils are innovating with charging gullies and street solutions, while others can’t get schemes off the ground. We urgently need a joined-up, national approach that gives local authorities the guidance, expertise and confidence to install the right chargers in the right places.
“Without that, the EV transition will be fair for some – and impossible for others.”
Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield – have a combined population of 2.7 million and share 2,485 public chargers between them. Coventry, with only 350,000 residents, boasts 2,578 chargers.
Westminster alone has 2,746 chargers, meaning a single London borough is better served than millions of drivers across the North.
Even where chargers exist, public confidence remains low. In a survey over 11,000 UK drivers conducted by Electrifiying.com and the AA, 60% said they believe public charging infrastructure is unreliable, while 6% agree there are enough public chargers.
John Lewis, CEO, char.gy: “If we want to end the postcode lottery, we need to give every council what Coventry already has: the confidence and capacity to get chargers in the ground quickly and in the right places.”
