Transport Insights

The Mail/This is Money has an interesting story about a North-South divide that has developed over the installation of public charge points for electric vehicles, slightly spoilt by some gratuitous Labour-bashing.

First, there is a suggestion that the rate of installation is now on a downward curve:

A mere 628 public chargers were installed in December, taking the total number added last year to 14,097, according to industry group Zapmap.

That was down nearly 30 per cent on the 19,834 installed in 2024 and more than 2,500 fewer than in 2023.

On the subject of location, it does seem that close to half are in London and the South East:

Of the 87,796 chargers installed, 27,895 are in London and the South East has 11,136.

By contrast, there are just 2,550 in the North East. Westminster alone has more public charging points than Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle combined.

Ginny Buckley of Electrifying.com is quoted as saying:

A lack of reliable charging in northern cities directly undermines confidence in EV driving. This is a real North–South divide. When one London borough has more chargers than five major northern cities combined, it sends a clear signal to drivers outside the South that the system isn’t working for them.

And Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation adds:

If there’s one issue that still weighs heavily in the minds of motorists wavering about going electric it is how comfortable they feel about being able to recharge their cars.

Having provided some legitimate statistics and good analysis, the article then gets really silly:

The figures come as a hammer blow to Labour’s Net Zero plans and the goal of having 300,000 public charging points installed by 2030. The Government is also facing a backlash over the Budget announcement of a pay-per-mile EV excise duty of 3p per mile, and 1.5p for hybrids.

And finally some decent analysis that can be made to sound a bit silly:

Vicky Read, boss of EV lobby group Charge UK, said: ‘This is not the time for complacency.’

I’m sure she will let us know when the time for complacency arrives.