Now in its fifth year, the league table comes from Zap-Map’s annual EV charging survey conducted in September 2022. The survey, which is the most established and comprehensive survey of EV drivers in the UK, saw record responses from more than 4,300 EV drivers.
This year, Zap-Map is again awarding a ‘Best EV Charging Network’ accreditation to the top scorers, with the others in the top five also receiving an ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
As part of the survey, respondents rated their overall satisfaction for the networks they use regularly, which is then used to rank each network out of a maximum of five stars. They also rated their level of satisfaction with the networks in five key areas: reliability, ease of use, customer support, value for money, and payment options.
In joint-first place overall this year are two ultra-rapid networks, Fastned and MFG EV Power. The two networks – which both provide hubs with multiple chargers each location – scored particularly highly for reliability and ease of use, and they both secure the ‘Best EV Charging Network’ badge.
Taking third place this year is rapid network InstaVolt, while Connected Kerb and Osprey come in joint fourth – meaning all three networks earn the ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
This year there are six new entrants to the league table. European operator Fastned, which has recently been expanding its UK charging network, has opened a handful of ultra-rapid hubs this year – and enters the list in joint-first place.
On-street provider Connected Kerb has shot into joint-fourth position, after rapid growth this year has seen its network expand to more than 1,000 chargers. Zap-Pay partner Mer also makes the league table for the first time, coming joint-seventh alongside Pod Point and ubitricity.
Be.EV, VendElectric and Dragon Charging are new entrants to the league table too, coming in at joint-10th, joint-12th, and joint-15th respectively.
ChargePlace Scotland – which holds joint-12th place overall – takes first place for cost, thanks to many of its extensive network of charge points currently being free to use.
Significantly, two networks to have slipped down the table since last year are GRIDSERVE Electric Highway and GeniePoint. From joint-fifth last year, GRIDSERVE Electric Highway now comes in at joint-10th, while GeniePoint has dropped from 11th place last year to 19th position overall. The two networks, which both operate a large number of chargers across the country, came lower down in terms of reliability than last year – an area both operators are working hard to improve upon.
“Already this year we’ve seen huge change across the industry, from strong EV sales through to high growth in ultra-rapid infrastructure, and of course significant price fluctuations at the charge point due to rising energy costs” said Melanie Shufflebotham, Co-founder & COO at Zap-Map. “Despite this, it’s clear that factors such as reliability and ease of use continue to be the most important in contributing to a good charging experience. These should be top priorities across all the UK’s public charging networks. However, the Zap-Map survey shows that while many networks provide a dependable, easy-to-use service, others have room for improvement. As EVs increasingly enter the mainstream, it’s crucial that collectively we make public charging as simple and reliable as possible.”
2022 has continued to see significant growth in the number of new EV drivers across the country, despite supply chain issues hampering the automotive sector overall. There are now around 600,000 pure-electric cars now on UK roads, roughly 200,000 new EV drivers this year, with a parallel increase in the charging infrastructure that supports them.
The UK now has almost 36,000 charging devices, an increasing proportion of which are ultra-rapid chargers ideal for longer journeys. Indeed, as of October there has been a 76 percent increase in the number of ultra-rapid devices across the country since the same period last year.
While the number of new charging networks entering the market has slowed a little, the growth of high-power charging hubs across the country and the expansion of options for on-street charging has only increased.
Looking ahead, these trends are only expected to continue – with many networks receiving significant investment over the course of the year to facilitate expansion plans, and some even eyeing up markets abroad.
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