Gridserve's motorway charging exclusivity ends at two-thirds of UK services

Gridserve can no longer enforce its exclusive right to supply electric car charging at Moto, Extra and Roadchef motorway services after November 2026, under legally binding commitments it gave the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Those three operators run about two-thirds of UK motorway service areas, according to the CMA, so rival networks will be able to compete for space at most of the stops you use on a long journey. Roadchef has already moved, signing BP Pulse to bring ultra-fast chargers to more than 30 of its services from 2027.

Gridserve held long-term exclusive charging deals at Moto, Extra and Roadchef services, Move Electric reported. The CMA closed its investigation in March 2022 after Gridserve agreed to cut the deals short. With less than two months to go, the question is whether more choice at the services means more bays and lower prices.

What did Gridserve agree with the CMA?

The CMA announced the commitments on 8 March 2022. Gridserve agreed not to enforce exclusive rights in its contracts with Extra, Moto or Roadchef after November 2026, which shortened the exclusivity by around two years at Moto and around four years at Roadchef.

Service area operator	Effect of the CMA commitments
Moto	Exclusive rights end about two years early
Roadchef	Exclusive rights end about four years early
Extra	Exclusive rights unenforceable after November 2026
All three	No exclusivity at sites funded by the Rapid Charging Fund

That last row matters: rival chargepoint operators could already go in at any site funded by the government’s £950m Rapid Charging Fund. The end of November is when the restriction falls away everywhere else.

What has Roadchef signed with BP Pulse?

Announced on 29 September, the deal brings BP Pulse ultra-fast charging to more than 30 Roadchef motorway service areas from 2027, GreenFleet reported. It supports Roadchef’s commitment to deliver 1,000 charging bays by 2030.

The other half of the deal is about fuel. According to Fleet News, Roadchef will run 12 BP forecourts, which keep selling BP fuels and BP’s Wild Bean Cafe offer. The forecourts are at Strensham southbound, Northampton north and southbound, Watford Gap north and southbound, Clacket Lane east and west, Sandbach north and south, Rownhams east and west, and Norton Canes.

That list takes in the M1 (Watford Gap and Northampton), the M6 (Sandbach) and the M25 (Clacket Lane). The 30-plus charging sites themselves have not been named in coverage so far, so it is not yet clear which routes get BP Pulse bays first.

Four days before the Roadchef announcement, electrive reported that BP is selling 32 operating BP Pulse sites in France, with more than 600 charge points, to Sorégies, in a deal expected to close by the end of 2026. Selling in France while signing up 30-plus UK motorway sites suggests the UK remains a priority for BP’s charging business.

What happens to the Gridserve chargers already there?

Nothing in the CMA commitments removes them: they stop Gridserve blocking rivals, not Gridserve itself. Gridserve has been Roadchef’s charging partner under the exclusive contract the CMA cut short.

Gridserve is also still building. It opened or expanded 12 Electric Super Hubs in the first three months of 2026, from Moto Kinross in Scotland to Folkestone on the M20, Gridserve said. It then opened a 24-bay Electric Super Hub with 400kW-capable chargers at Moto Lymm, at junction 20 of the M6 and junction 9 of the M56, in May, then another at Moto Tamworth in June. An incumbent with new high-power hardware is hard to dislodge, so we expect rivals to arrive alongside Gridserve rather than instead of it.

Two questions remain open: whether Moto and Extra sign second networks of their own, and on what terms Gridserve stays at Roadchef sites once BP Pulse arrives.

Will motorway charging get cheaper?

Not automatically, and not this winter. Zapmap’s Price Index put the weighted average pay-as-you-go price for rapid and ultra-rapid charging at 77p per kWh in August 2026, and Zapmap’s September figures for the ten biggest rapid networks ranged from 59p to 92p.

Zapmap rapid charging figure	Price per kWh
UK average, rapid and ultra-rapid (August 2026)	77p
Top 10 rapid networks (September 2026)	59p to 92p
InstaVolt, network-wide	92p
MFG EV Power summer offer (1 July to 30 September)	59p, down from 79p

That spread is the case for competition. At a service area with one network, the price on the screen is the price you pay unless you leave the motorway. With two networks side by side, you can pick the cheaper or faster bay, and operators have a reason to respond. MFG EV Power’s summer cut shows networks will move on price when they want the custom. Our report on public charging prices this October has the wider picture.

The catch is timing: BP Pulse’s Roadchef rollout does not start until 2027, so the November deadline alone will not change what you pay this winter.

What this means for you

Plan motorway stops as you do today. Gridserve’s chargers do not switch off when November ends: the change lets rivals in, it is not a switch-over date. Our guide to the best motorway services for EV charging covers where the biggest hubs are now.

• Check before you turn off. A route planner app shows which networks are at the next services, so you are not committed to one operator’s price.
• Know the networks. If BP Pulse becomes your Roadchef option from 2027, our BP Pulse vs Shell Recharge and Gridserve vs InstaVolt comparisons show how they stack up on cost and coverage.
• Do not wait for a price war. Competition arrives site by site as new hubs are built.

Our view: the end of exclusivity is good news for long-distance drivers, and the Roadchef deal shows operators are acting on it. Expect the benefit to reach your wallet from 2027, not this Christmas.