Passing the 75,000 charger milestone is historic, but…

The UK needs a modern and well signed public chargepoint network, says Asif Ghafoor of Be.EV

The UK now has 75,000 public chargepoints, Zapmap has revealed. This milestone is a cause for celebration and helps to prove that the narrative surrounding range anxiety is nonsense. I regularly travel to EV charging sites all across the country and I’ve seen hardly any queues. There’s clearly enough infrastructure out there for EV drivers at the moment, and we’re well on track to keep pace with demand.

What’s been particularly encouraging has been the growth in rapid/ultra-rapid chargers, which increased by 84% last year. When we started the roll-out, there was far too much of an obsession with lamppost chargers. They’re handy for people who need to charge overnight but they’re rubbish for everything else and there’s too many of them. Many of these chargers don’t have contactless payments and are installed with little thought for accessibility.

Cheap lamppost chargers are not the best solution for everyone, and many will be nothing but street litter in a few years’ time given how quickly batteries are improving. However, the kit has come a long way, and there’s more of a focus now on putting ultra-rapid chargers in the ground, which are the chargers drivers actually want to use.

What we need now is to upgrade the old chargers that are giving the industry a bad rep. Charging providers have a responsibility to make sure chargers are upgraded and suit what drivers want today, not what they wanted three years ago. For example, contactless should be a given at all chargers, which it isn’t currently. This will greatly improve the driver experience and give non-EV drivers yet another reason to make the switch.

There also needs to more signposting on roads and motorways, which will help to bring an end to the outdated reliance on chargers at motorway service stations. Many drivers use their car or apps for this, but signposting will help drive behaviour change and encourage drivers to find better EV charging hubs outside of where they used to refuel. Many are located less than ten minutes away from motorways, where the chargers are less busy (and the food and drink is cheaper).

What we need to challenge is the perception of poor range. It’s clear that there are more than enough chargers, we just need to do a better job of letting drivers know that this is the case. Signs that actually tell them where these chargers are would go a long way.

Asif Ghafoor is CEO of national EV charging network Be.EV