It’s a good news day for UK-based electric vehicle drivers.
Earlier today, EV charging infrastructure tracker and locator Zap-Map announced that it had just logged the nation’s 20,000tht electric car charging device.
EV charging #milestone reached!⚡️🚗 There are now 20,000 charge devices across the UK #EV
Find them on Zap-Map➡️https://t.co/rGNYvocPZj pic.twitter.com/IImRuVgf4C— Zap-Map (@zap_map) October 28, 2020
The news comes as the UK closes in on getting its 35,000th individual connector. Over the past 30 days, Zap-Map has tracked 500 new devices being put online, which has made 894 more connectors available across the country.
For the sake of clarity, a connector is an individual plug that you attach to an EV. While a device is the unit that those connectors are attached to and draw power from. With that in mind, there are 1.7 connectors per device, on average. In reality, there is a mix of devices with two connectors or just one — depending on the charger.
[Read: What audience intelligence data tells us about the 2020 US presidential election]
Over the past year, there has been notable growth in availability of fast, rapid, and ultra-rapid chargers.
The rise in rapid and ultra-rapid connectors is good news, as it’s showing the UK is moving toward supporting newer types of fast-charging electric vehicles, which can do a zero to 80% charge in minutes rather than hours.
Yearly growth has slowed down a little, as there was a significant jump in the number of connectors between 2018 and 2019. The increase in connectors between 2019 and 2020, was less impressive. But it’s still going in the right direction, and we are dealing with a global pandemic which is slowing things down.
A few months ago, the UK got its first glimpse of a dedicated EV-only service station, which is due to open before the end of the year. With more initiatives being planned for the near future, the UK’s EV charging infrastructure is only going to keep getting better.
SHIFT is brought to you by Polestar. It’s time to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility. That is why Polestar combines electric driving with cutting-edge design and thrilling performance. Find out how.
Published October 28, 2020 — 14:41 UTC