Free car charging points close as electricity costs soar

THOUSANDS of free electric car chargers have been pulled over the past year because of the soaring price of energy.

The number offering free electricity has fallen from 5,715 a year ago to 3,568, a drop of almost 40pc. They now make up fewer than one in 10 public chargers on Britain’s roads, compared with one in five a year ago.

The drop in free top-up spots is the latest blow to the Government’s ambitions to attract motorists to electric cars by making it cheap and convenient to charge them away from home.

The figures, from Zap Map, which is used to publish Government data on charging points, come as concerns about the price of owning an electric vehicle threaten to slow their adoption.

Tesco, which was the UK’S biggest provider of free points, stopped offering free electric car charging to shoppers in November.

The Irish electricity network ESB began requiring payment for more than 300 previously free charging points in Northern Ireland at the end of April.

Melanie Shufflebotham, Zap Map’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said: “Free charging has been more common as an incentive for locations like supermarkets and car parks to draw in customers. But as electric vehicles become mainstream it’s quite reasonable that it is in decline – you would never expect to fill up your petrol car for free while you do your shopping.

“Rising electricity costs have led to a clear decrease recently, but with more than 3,500 across the country smart EV drivers still have plenty of opportunity to top up at no cost.”

According to the RAC, the cost of charging an electric car using a rapid charger has climbed from £22.81 in May 2022 to £35.43 in April this year, which means it takes electric vehicle owners longer to recoup the costs of switching from fossil fuel powered vehicles.

Official figures show that there were 40,150 public vehicle chargers in the UK at the start of April, 9,860 more than a year ago. The Government has said it plans to have 300,000 in the UK by 2030, in time for a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars, but critics have said that at current rates it will miss its target by 20 years.