The rollout of public charge points for electric cars has gone into reverse with figures showing there was one standard public charger for every 36 electric cars on the road, down from 31 in 2021.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which gathered the data, said: “Deployment of infrastructure appropriate for commercial vehicles would energise uptake of the latest electric vehicles, accelerate fleet renewal to take older units off the road, and help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.”
Growth in electric vehicle ownership is outstripping the increase in the supply of public chargers, which are key infrastructure for using a battery-powered car at longer ranges.
While most drivers will charge their batteries at home, many do not have access to a domestic charger, meaning that cheap and plentiful public facilities are required for long journeys.
The situation is worse for van drivers, since many charging points are clustered around motorways and major roads rather than cities. There are also none designed for heavy goods vehicles, putting adoption of battery-powered lorries under threat.
Electric car adoption is on the rise, but most cars on the road are still petrol and diesel-powered, the SMMT said in its annual roundup of motors on British roads.
Of the 35.1mln cars on the road, 59% are petrol, level with a year earlier, the figures showed, with a further 36% diesel, down a percentage point compared to last year, and 3.1% are battery-powered or a hybrid which can be charged from a plug, one percentage point more than last year.
Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, said, “With exciting new technologies and models fuelling our appetite to get back behind the wheel, now is the time to commit to greater investment in infrastructure and incentives, to speed up a switch to carbon-free mobility that is accessible to all.”