UK cities with the most broken charging points revealed – don’t get caught out when driving your EV

THERE HAS been much debate recently on whether modern electric vehicles can meet the day-to-day needs of business fleets and the rigours of family life.

Buying an electric car is a big commitment; you have to work out whether it will fit your lifestyle, decide if it offers the flexibility you require and, perhaps most importantly – whether you can afford the higher prices that EVs currently command in the first place.

However, if you are willing to make the move over to battery power, one extra point to take into consideration is which areas around the UK have the highest number of broken charging points.

Because of course, if you can’t charge your car when you’re out and about, it just causes unnecessary stress – particularly if you regularly undertake longer journeys.

Londonderry has the highest number of broken electric car charging points, with an astonishing 30 per cent not working.

Not far behind is Worcester with almost 23 per cent of public charging points out of action.

Ipswich has the third highest number of broken chargers with 22.7 per cent of EV chargers malfunctioning.

Solar lights supplier The Solar Centre provided the latest data – recording the number of EV chargers in towns and cities across the UK and discovering whether they were fit for purpose.

There are over 37,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the UK, but it is estimated that roughly 480,000 public charging stations are required to meet the ‘Road to 2030’ target.

Rounding off the top five cities with the highest number of broken EV charging points is Newcastle and York, with 21.4 and 21.2 per cent, respectively.

Completing the top ten is Huddersfield (21.1 per cent), Southend-on-Sea (21.1 per cent), Maidstone (19 per cent), Blackburn (18.5 per cent), and Hereford (18.2 per cent).

On the flip side, seven cities were recorded as having 100 per cent functioning EV chargers, including places such as Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire and Darlington, County Durham.

These locations have had the advantage of additional funding to improve their charging infrastructure.

For example, Nottinghamshire received funding provided by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles to expand the public EV network, while County Durham council is set to receive £3.1 million to install 150 more charging stations across the county.

Brian Davenport, owner and co-founder at The Solar Centre commented: ‘Electric cars are eco-friendly, convenient, and have lower running costs, but a lack of available chargers and inconsistency in their ability to work could put drivers off.

‘With the Road to 2030 only a mere seven years away, it’s vital local councils are given additional budgets to ensure their EV charging points are working and placed in convenient areas to encourage more drivers to switch from petrol and diesel cars to electric.’