Top 50 Indie MFG and Fastned have taken joint first place in Zap-Map’s annual EV charging survey in which more than 4,000 EC drivers rated UK public charging networks during September.
Now in its fifth year, the survey is described as “the most established and comprehensive survey of EV drivers in the UK”, and this year it saw record responses from more than 4,300 EV drivers.
Zap-Map awards a ‘Best EV Charging Network’ accreditation to the top scorers, with the others in the top five also receiving an ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
As part of the survey, respondents rated their overall satisfaction with the networks they use regularly, which is then used to rank each network out of a maximum of five stars. They also rated their level of satisfaction with the networks in five key areas: reliability, ease of use, customer support, value for money and payment options.
In joint-first place overall this year were two ultra-rapid networks, Fastned and MFG EV Power. The two networks scored particularly highly for reliability and ease of use, and they both secured the ‘Best EV Charging Network’ badge.
Taking third place was rapid network InstaVolt, while Connected Kerb and Osprey came in at joint fourth – meaning all three networks earned the ‘EV Driver Recommended’ title.
This year there were six new entrants to the league table, including first-placed European operator Fastned, which has recently been expanding its UK charging network and has opened a handful of ultra-rapid hubs this year.
On-street provider Connected Kerb shot into joint-fourth position, after rapid growth this year has seen its network expand to more than 1,000 chargers. Zap-Pay partner Mer also made the league table for the first time, coming joint-seventh alongside Pod Point and ubitricity.
Be.EV, VendElectric and Dragon Charging were new entrants to the league table too, coming in at joint-10th, joint-12th, and joint-15th respectively.
Zap-Map said it was also worth highlighting that ChargePlace Scotland – which holds joint-12th place overall – takes first place for cost, thanks to many of its extensive network of charge points currently being free to use.
It added that significantly, two networks slipped down the table since last year. From joint-fifth last year, Gridserve Electric Highway now comes in at joint-10th, while GeniePoint dropped from 11th place last year to 19th position overall.
The two networks, which both operate a large number of chargers across the country, came lower down in terms of reliability than last year – an area both operators said they are working hard to improve upon.
In a statement on its website, Gridserve said its performance in the survey wasn’t good enough. It added that following the acquisition of the Electric Highway in June 2021, it had made a commitment to replace every legacy charger with the latest EV charging units.
Gridserve said it has been addressing the need for more high power EV chargers and had “established new contracts and grid connections in record time” to deploy Electric Super Hubs that provide between six and 12 industry-leading high power EV chargers in each location. Eight Electric Super Hubs are now live across the UK, including regional firsts in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Wales.
“When looking at user ratings for the Electric Super Hubs and Electric Forecourts on Zap-Map, these sites scored an average of 4.2. This shows that we are heading in the right direction with the customer experience and, in isolation, would have put those Gridserve locations in first position in the 2022 league table.”
The company went on to say that it needed to look further into the satisfaction score on the medium power EV chargers, reflect on some of the issues that have caused this, and see what it can improve on certain acquired sites with legacy contracts.
Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO at Zap-Map, said: “Already this year we’ve seen huge change across the industry, from strong EV sales through to high growth in ultra-rapid infrastructure, and of course significant price fluctuations at the charge point due to rising energy costs.
“Despite this, it’s clear that factors such as reliability and ease of use continue to be the most important in contributing to a good charging experience. These should be top priorities across all the UK’s public charging networks.
“However, the Zap-Map survey shows that while many networks provide a dependable, easy-to-use service, others have room for improvement. As EVs increasingly enter the mainstream, it’s crucial that collectively we make public charging as simple and reliable as possible.”
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