The number of public EV chargepoints increased by 19.1% in 2025, with the network now comprising a total of 87,796 devices spread across 45,033 locations.
Ultra-rapid chargers, those delivering electricity at 150kW or more, saw the highest rate of growth, at 41%, with the 2,872 of these devices installed last year representing af 41% rise.
The number of standalone hubs – defined as a group of six or more rapid/ultra-rapid chargers – rose by 39.3%, with the UK now home to 748 of these facilities.
Around 10,000 sub-50kW chargers were also added to the network, as local councils focus on on-street sockets to encourage those without driveways to switch to battery-powered motoring.
The data comes from mapping and payment firm Zapmap, whose co-founder and chief operating officer, Melanie Shufflebotham, recognised that last year’s installation rate was slower than 2024, but highlighted the growth of ultra-rapid devices: “not only providing convenience and confidence to existing EV drivers but also, due to their typically visible locations, assuring the next wave of drivers looking to make the switch that the infrastructure is there where it’s needed most”.
But while installations continue apace, profits in the sector remain more elusive: a number of chargepoint operators (CPOs) have posted financial results of late that make for grim reading, and while national and local authorities continue to divert millions of pounds into the sector, the vast majority of EV drivers can and do charge at home rather than use more expensive public sockets.
The European Union, meanwhile, has been considering whether the pure-EV future that was once taken as a given might not be such a sure thing after all, with car makers across the continent warning that both profits and customers for electric cars remain elusive, and 2025 registration figures showing fewer EVs were sold in the UK last year than the number mandated by government.
