A new Electrifying.com study has found that owners of electric cars may want to consider heading to Tesco for their weekly shop as nearly half (45%) of its stores have charging points. However, Sainsbury’s loyalists who own an electric car face a lottery when it comes to charging their cars, with fewer than one in 10 (7.2%) of its stores currently providing charge points for customers. 

Close behind Tesco, over 40% of Morrisons stores offer customers the ability to charge, while nearly one in five (19.71%) Asda locations provide at least one place to plug in. 

The study, which surveyed the UK’s largest supermarket chains (excluding ‘express’ or ‘local’ stores), found a significant disparity in the provision of charging for electric cars. For drivers without off-street parking, charging at supermarkets could make ownership feasible. 

This was underlined in a recent poll by Electrifying.com, the Department for Transport and the AA, which found that 72% of drivers would be more likely to consider buying an electric car if there was more opportunity to charge at supermarkets.

Every little helps when it comes to charging

While Sainsbury’s came out bottom of the pile with fewer than one in 10 (7.2%) of its stores offering at least one charge point; Aldi was only marginally better with 10%. 

Lidl customers have a slightly better chance of finding a store with at least one charge point, with its hit rate reaching 15%. 

Founder of Electrifying.com Ginny Buckley said: “Congratulations to Tesco and Morrisons which have both invested heavily to provide customers with good charging facilities. We’d love every supermarket site to offer this, but we aren’t there yet. 

“We expected more supermarkets to be doing better, but it’s still great to see how some of them have recognised that offering shoppers reliable car charging is not only good for business but will also help give the nation confidence to make the switch.

“With electric cars surging in popularity – July saw battery electric vehicles claim 9%** market share in the UK – and ambitious government targets to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, providing charging infrastructure at convenient locations is crucial to encourage drivers to go electric sooner, particularly the significant number that don’t have access to off-street parking.

Morrisons is investing heavily in chargers for customers

As well as having the highest percentage of stores with at least one charge point, Tesco is also rated best for the average number of charge points per store, with 1.87 chargers per supermarket site (despite fewer than 50% of stores having at least one place to plug in).

As well as having the highest percentage of stores with at least one charge point, Tesco is also rated best for the average number of charge points per store, with 1.87 chargers per supermarket site (despite fewer than 50% of stores having at least one place to plug in).

Louise Goodland, Head of Retail Partnerships at Tesco said: “We want to make it easy for people to switch to electric vehicles and are delighted to be recognised as the best supermarket for EV drivers in the UK.

“Transitioning to electric vehicles will play a crucial role in reducing the amount of carbon emissions we produce as a nation. We’re working in partnership with Volkswagen and Pod Point to provide customers with charging points to offer them the opportunity to charge their car for free while they shop. 

“So far we’ve delivered over 23 million miles worth of free, green charges and we’re continuing to roll out EV chargers to 600 Tesco stores across the UK.”

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We have ambitious plans for our next generation of charging points. We want to offer charge points in more places and create a better customer experience.”

Lidl GB said: “We understand the important role we play in helping our customers lead more sustainable lives. As such, we are proud to offer rapid charging points for electric vehicles at 130 of our stores. By 2022, we aim to have more than 350 stores with rapid charging points. We are the cheapest supermarket provider of pay as you go rapid charging, and in 2020, our chargers were the most used across our partner’s entire network.” 

Waitrose also has plans to improve its score. It is set to extend its partnership with Shell and roll out 800 new charge points in 100 Waitrose locations across the UK by 2025.

Sainsburys has plans to improve its score