According to the latest figures from charge point mapping service Zapmap there are precisely 120,388 charging points across the UK at just over 46,300 locations, though that’s just a snapshot with numbers changing every day as more plugs are installed all over the place. 

The plugs are divided into four categories, which have recently been renamed to make it less confusing. Those with a power output between 3kW and 7.9kW have been renamed from Slow to Standard, while the band from 8kW up to 49kW is now called Standard Plus instead of Fast – Rapid and Ultra-Rapid are still used as names for 50–149kW and 150kW+ respectively. 

And of course it's worth mentioning that your car won't necessarily charge at whatever it says on the side of the charge point – it depends on the charge capability of the car, as well as the condition of the battery, ambient temperature and where the moon is at in its monthly cycle. We made the last one up, but it could have an effect. 

How many 'Standard' (slow) chargers are there?

There are 60,178 Standard charging public points in the UK, by far the largest grouping. A lot of the recent expansion in charging provision has been with things like local lamp post chargers and street charging.

It should also be noted that this figure only includes public charge points – Zapmap estimates there are over one million home and work plugs in use across the country, where the majority of EV charging actually happens. 

Standard Plus (Fast) chargers are the next biggest group – there are 32,121 of those knocking around, mainly 11kW and 22kW units which are a good solution for when you are parked up for a few hours. 

Those plugs need a three-phase power supply, but they’re starting to come back into fashion again, especially on PHEVs with larger batteries. They also all use Type 2 AC plugs rather than the CCS rapid charging devices. 

What about faster chargers? 

There are 14,743 rapid chargers and 13,346 ultra rapid chargers in the UK at the moment – it’s fascinating that those 150+kW units are really forging ahead. In fact those are the fastest growing in percentage terms, up 40% on 2025’s numbers. Gridserve recently opened its first 400kW chargers at the end of 2025 and Ionity is known for its network of fast but pricey plugs. 

The rapid chargers are mostly 50kW units from back when those were the fastest things around. Which is funny, because they’d hardly make a dent in some of the bigger batteries that carmakers are coming out with these days. During 2025 the overall number of these rapids decreased slightly as some sites were upgraded to ultra-rapid chargers, while others were removed altogether.

Talk to me about hubs

This is the exciting charge point revolution of recent years – it used to be you had to track down a solitary 50kW BP Pulse charger round the back of a Harvester, but now providers are building ‘hubs’ of chargers all over the place. 

Zapmap classes these are eight or more rapid chargers in a single location, but you’ll find them at service stations, in shopping centre car parks or even in a service station-style setup like Gridserve, Ionity and Shell have been building. 

These hubs are usually near some infrastructure (toilets, shops, cafes, etc) or they have their own infrastructure that you can use while you’re charging. Which saves you having to dip into a book or God forbid make conversation. 

At the end of April 2026 the Zapmap figures show there were 1,004 rapid charging hubs across the UK open to all EVs, plus 65 hubs which are only available to Teslas.

Where are all the chargers? 

If we're talking street chargers, then three quarters of those are in London, though there are a lot of projects ongoing around the country in conjunction with local councils to increase provision for EV drivers who don't have access to home charging. 

The most rapid/ultra-rapid chargers are located in the southeast of the country (3,823), not including the Greater London area which has another 2,462 it's hogging. The areas with the fewest rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are the northeast with a measly 878 and Northern Ireland with just 355.

The majority of charging hubs are located along the UK's 'strategic road network', which basically just means motorways and important A-roads. Which is useful, because that's where you want them to be and queuing for a charger is really annoying.

How much does charging cost? 

According to Zapmap’s figures, it costs an average of 54p per kWh to charge on slow and fast charge points, versus 76p per kWh to charge on rapid and ultra-rapid chargers. 

The price for Standard/Standard Plus chargers has increased by 2% since last year, while Rapid / Ultra-rapid chargers have gone down by 5%.

This is because many networks provide much cheaper PAYG charging, bringing the average down. Sainsbury’s Smart Charge is 72p/kWh, Believ is 66p/kWh and Tesla Supercharger sites that are open to all drivers have an average price to charge of 57p/kWh. For Tesla drivers the average price paid is even lower at 41p/kWh.

It’s worth noting that many providers also offer discounts for using their apps, or with a monthly subscription (like Be.EV recently launched),