News
EV sales soared to a record high in Europe in 2025, with electric vehicle sales up by 30%. In the UK, the story is much the same, with EV sales surpassing petrol vehicle sales in the month of December and tracking steady growth into 2026.
However, as the market moves towards electrification, analysts have warned that the UK must double the number of electric vehicle charge points it installs annually if it is to meet its 2030 targets.
The warning follows the UK government’s renewed commitment to ban all ICE vehicles by 2030, a pledge that came under scrutiny following the EU’s decision to relax its own 2035 target at the end of last year.
Charging app Zapmap and the Department for Transport identified nearly 88,000 charge points in the UK, with 15,000 installed in 2025 alone.
Despite this progress, the government has estimated that the UK will need between 250,000 and 550,000 charge points to support an ambitious 2030 ICE ban.
Accommodating even the lower end of this range would require the construction of more than 32,000 charge points each year, rising to up to 92,000 annually for the higher end of the estimate.
Some executives have suggested that a slew of unfavourable EV legislation last year created uncertainty in the market and led to trepidation among charge-point operators, who may have held back from investing.
Among the unwelcoming EV policies were the unveiling of a pay-per-mile EV tax, set to come into effect in 2028, and the end of exemption laws that had seen EVs excluded from London’s Congestion Charge.
The Chief Executive of trade group ChargeUK, Vicky Read, warned of the need for a cohesive EV strategy, arguing:
“We are starting to see some warning signs around EV policy which, combined with charge-point operators’ high energy costs, present a challenge. If we don’t have policy certainty and measures to address those costs, it will impact whether the sector can put the right charge points in the right places ahead of when drivers need them.”
According to a separate study by consultancy providers Cenex and Vauxhall Motors, Britain’s charging infrastructure was, in fact, ahead of demand by 1.5 years, provided the rate of new installations increased year on year.
While infrastructure growth is gaining pace, a cohesive and welcoming EV strategy remains essential to ensure Britain’s charging network can meet the demands of a growing EV market.
The UK government has pledged to invest £600 million this year to respond to this shortfall in infrastructure.
Keep up-to-date with the latest mobility news by subscribing to MOVEMNT’s free newsletter
