Electric car charger rollout suffers slowdown in blow to Labour

The number of electric vehicle (EV) chargers being installed in Britain has fallen for the first time, in a significant blow to the Government’s push for drivers to switch from petrol and diesel.

Public charger installations are down by 30pc for the first 11 months of this year compared to all of 2024, the first time on record the rate has not increased.

Figures from Zap Map, which provides data to the Office for National Statistics, show that 13,469 were installed by the end of November this year, compared to a total of 19,834 in 2024.

The drop is a blow to Labour’s net zero plan to accelerate the switch to EVs and comes at a critical moment, with industry figures warning that a planned pay-per-mile tax on electric cars also threatens to deter sales.

It will raise fresh doubts about the Government’s EV plans. Labour is under pressure to delay or drop an incoming ban on petrol cars after the EU scrapped its own ban, which was due to take effect in 2035.

The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in Britain from 2030 under current plans, with hybrids to be banned from 2035.

Richard Holden, the shadow transport secretary, said: “Labour is remorselessly driving to net zero, wilfully blind to the enormous cost of this obsession to ordinary people.

“And yet, even as they do so, they are totally failing to deliver the infrastructure required to achieve their ideological objectives.

“With EV charger installations falling, Labour are making it even harder for people to switch to electric cars.”

Infrastructure doubts

Ginny Buckley, the chief executive of Electrifying.com, said the EV charging rollout “must keep pace with rising EV sales” to encourage continued adoption among drivers.

The figures also raise doubts about the Government’s ability to meet its official target of at least 300,000 charge points in operation by 2030.

Fewer than 90,000 EV chargers are currently in operation, meaning an average of 42,000 per year would need to be installed over the next five years to meet the target. That is more than double the annual record for installations set in 2024.

The Government’s 300,000 target is already at the lower end of the Department for Transport’s forecast that between 250,000 and 555,000 will be needed to meet demand by the end of this decade.

Charging providers have blamed the drop in installations on “prohibitively high” energy costs, lengthy wait times for grid connections and delays to a public subsidy scheme.

There were fewer installations across all charger speeds, from slow points such as lamppost installations that take several hours to refuel a car to the “ultra-rapid” devices that can do so in as little as 15 minutes.

The most significant drop was in the rapid category, those with an output of between 50 and 150 kilowatts, which fell by 46pc.

Installations of slow chargers, or those with outputs of less than eight kilowatts, are also 37pc down.

Charge UK, which represents operators, said ballooning energy costs were partly to blame.

In a report earlier this year, the group said companies were being hammered by “prohibitively high” standing charges, which had leapt by 460pc in some cases.

On top of this, companies have complained about lengthy waits to secure grid connections and delays in payments from the Government’s £450m local electric vehicle infrastructure fund.

Vicky Read, ChargeUK’s chief executive, said: “2024 was a bumper year for growth, which has slowed comparatively in 2025, thanks to rapidly rising costs for charging operators and delays to government subsidies.”

Ms Read insisted charging companies were still “building ahead of demand” and claimed that numbers would pick up again in 2026 and 2027 as “government contracts come through”.

But she warned: “To protect the billions of pounds of investment and thousands of jobs required to complete the rollout, we need the Government to reduce the cost burden on the sector – which is affecting driver prices as well as the pace of rollout – and above all else we need stable regulation, with no further tweaks to EV sales quotas.”

Latest setback for drivers

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We know concerns about charge point access remain a barrier to people going electric, which is why we’ve announced more than £600m this year alone to speed up the rollout of chargers and give drivers the confidence they need to make the switch.

“With more than 87,000 charge points across the UK – up 21pc since last year – and additional help for councils to deliver 100,000 more, we’re building a charging network that works for all journeys.”

Public charging is expected to become increasingly important as EV sales grow and new petrol car sales are ultimately banned.

While most EV owners have access to charging at work or at home, those without home chargers will rely on public networks.

EV sales have risen this year, with full electric and plug-in hybrid models accounting for more than a third of total sales.

However, drivers have faced a series of setbacks in recent months. Policy changes mean EV drivers are now liable for car tax, and owners of expensive EVs face paying the so-called “luxury car tax”.

Rachel Reeves announced in November’s Budget that drivers would be charged by the mile. The Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated that the move will result in hundreds of thousands fewer EVs being sold.

The Treasury put £100m into EV charging infrastructure in November’s Budget and also introduced 10 years of business rates relief. Campaigners have been calling for VAT on public charging to be equalised with home charging, where it is 5pc.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]