Motorists living on more than 11,500 streets across the UK have called for councils to install on-street charging for electric vehicles (EVs).
The residential roads identified by the public have been submitted to Vauxhall’s Electric Streets of Britain campaign, which aims to support the 40% of households without access to a driveway, while data shows that 80% of electric vehicle charging is done at home.
Vauxhall will be working with its three Electric Streets chargepoint operator partners – charg.y, ConnectedKerb, and Surecharge – to utilise the data it has received through its online database and share it with local councils up and down the country helping them to identify the charging solutions required for their local residents. Vauxhall will also share regular updates with drivers who registered through the Electric Streets of Britain database, keeping them informed of how their interest is supporting the growth of the UK’s charging network.
A new Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Vauxhall found that 56.5% of the 267 local authorities who responded still do not have a published on-street residential charging strategy in place. Although this figure has improved by almost 15% since 2023 (72% of UK councils), the data reflects the work still to be done, to reach the required levels of accessible charging needed to match electric vehicle demand.
James Taylor, Managing Director, Vauxhall, said: “On-street residential charging is critical to the adoption and acceleration of electric vehicles. Thanks to the public, we already know of over 11,000 roads where we need to install on-street chargers today to make it more convenient for EV drivers and remove a barrier for those wanting to switch to electric.”
Vauxhall launched Electric Streets of Britain last summer to support the millions of drivers across the UK without access to a private driveway to make the switch over to an electric vehicle. Since launch, Vauxhall has welcomed drivers to register their need for on-street charging near them.
Vauxhall’s new on-street charging demand map highlights the areas where infrastructure demand is highest. It shows the disparity in infrastructure levels across the country with a larger number of registrations found in the North of England compared to the South, with Leeds, Glasgow and Sheffield all included among the local authorities recording the biggest level of demand.
The 267 councils who responded to the new FOI told Vauxhall that together they have collectively installed over 15,000 on-street chargers currently on UK roads, and plan to install a further 8,000 over the next year. With the UK Government continuing towards its aim of having 300,000 public EV charge points by 2030, councils will need to ensure momentum continues to hit national targets.
However, 14 of the top 20 councils by number of on-street chargers installed so far, and 10 of the 20 councils to have seen the biggest increase in on-street charge point numbers year-on-year, are based in the capital highlighting the need for a greater distribution nationally.
London Boroughs of Southwark and Barnet lead the way, making up 20% of the share of total on-street charge points in the UK installed between them. Coventry City Council lists third, the highest administration outside the capital, with 1,340 on-street chargers recorded – a growth of 40% compared to figures provided to Vauxhall in 2023.
Since launch, Vauxhall’s Electric Streets of Britain campaign has developed to support motorists with a wider range of charging needs. Early in 2024, Vauxhall partnered with supermarket giant Tesco to provide new electric vehicle customers with one-year free charging at its stores, the country’s largest supermarket charging network.
Recently, Vauxhall highlighted the importance of considering the needs of disabled drivers in charging strategies, as only 2.3% of the UK’s on-street EV chargers were found to be adapted for disabled motorists.
By the end of this year, Vauxhall will offer a fully electric version of every car and van in its line-up. Vauxhall was the UK’s best-selling electric van manufacturer in 2023, while the Corsa Electric was the UK’s best-selling small electric car and the Mokka Electric the best-selling electric compact crossover model last year.
For more information or to register your EV charging needs, visit www.electricstreets.co.uk
