While electric vehicle adoption is soaring across the UK, public charging infrastructure is struggling to keep up.
After analysing DfT, OZEV and ONS data across all 364 UK local authorities, Hippo found:
The UK’s EV fleet grew 33 percent in a year, reaching 2.84 million vehicles by the end of 2025, but public charger numbers only grew by 22.8 percent. This mismatch has actively worsened the UK’s average EV-per-charger ratio, climbing from 30.6 to 33.1 electric vehicles per public charger.
London’s EV fleet actually grew just 20.9 percent year-on-year, the slowest of any UK region, while the South East (+53.5 percent), Wales (+42.9 percent) and the North East (+45.5 percent) all grew far faster, despite London being named the priority market for new investment.
Private EV ownership is now growing faster than company fleets nationally, up 41 percent year-on-year compared to 26 percent for company-kept vehicles, showing everyday drivers are switching to electric even quicker than businesses are.
Stockport is the most under-served hotspot for public charging in the country, with 685 EVs for every charger, even after charger numbers there grew by a third in the past year.
Cheshire West and Chester saw the sharpest infrastructure squeeze anywhere in the UK, its EVs-per-charger ratio degrading from 36 to 184 in just 12 months.
“Allego prioritising London makes sense on paper, but our data shows London’s EV growth is actually lagging behind the rest of the country, while places like Stockport and Cheshire West and Chester are seeing some of the sharpest charging squeezes anywhere in the UK” said Tom Preston, CEO of Hippo Leasing. “If new investment keeps flowing towards London by default, we risk widening the gap in exactly the places where demand for EVs, and for charging, is growing fastest.”
The worst pinch points are concentrated in heavy commercial and leasing hubs, where a massive influx of company-kept vehicles clashes with relatively small public-charging footprints.
For additional information:
EV Hotspots: The UK’s Electric Vehicle Business Leasing Report
