UK public chargers reach 122,724 as yearly growth eases to 9.5%

The UK had 122,724 public EV chargers at the end of July 2026, according to Zapmap, at 47,441 locations and on 97,266 charging devices. Yearly growth has eased from 11% in April to 10% in June and 9.5% in July, but the network is still adding thousands of chargers a quarter, and the biggest gains are where drivers without driveways need them.

How big is the UK charging network now?

Zapmap now counts individual chargers (each lead), not just devices, which is why its headline figure is higher than the device total. The milestones this year:

Date	Chargers	Year-on-year growth
End of April 2026	120,388	11%
End of June 2026	121,171	10%
End of July 2026	122,724	9.5%

The April figure, which topped 120,000 for the first time, comes from EV Powered, and the June figure from Zapmap’s H1 report. The July total added 1,553 net new chargers on June, according to EV Fleet World’s report on the figures.

Where are the new chargers going?

Zapmap’s H1 report splits the network by use, with figures at the end of June:

Type	Chargers	Year-on-year growth
En-route (long journeys)	13,711	15.2%
Destination	Not published in the figures we checked	5.7%
On-street	39,859	18%

On-street charging grew fastest, which is good news for the terraced-house drivers that councils have pledged to serve. Our report on on-street charging and the LEVI fund covers the gaps that remain. En-route growth matters for long trips, and our guide to ultra-rapid hubs shows where to find them. In April, Zapmap counted 13,346 ultra-rapid chargers of 150kW and above, up 40% year on year.

Is growth slowing?

Slightly. Zapmap recorded 11% year-on-year growth in April, 10% in June and 9.5% in July. A bigger network makes the same number of additions a smaller percentage, so the slowdown is partly arithmetic. The slower segment is destination charging at 5.7%, where chargers sit in car parks at shops, hotels and workplaces, while the faster-growing on-street and en-route segments are lifting the total.

What do the numbers not tell you?

A raw count says little about whether a charger works or is near you. Zapmap’s total includes slow chargers in car parks alongside 150kW hubs, and a single location can hold one socket or dozens. The 47,441 locations figure is a better guide to coverage than the headline total, and our reliability ranking of charging networks is a better guide to whether a stop will work when you arrive.

It also pays to separate growth from need. Drivers who park on the street rely on the 39,859 on-street chargers, a group that is still small next to the destination total, so the fastest-growing segment starts from a lower base.

What does it cost to use them?

More chargers have not yet pulled prices down. Zapmap’s August 2026 price index put the weighted average pay-as-you-go price at 77p per kWh on 50kW-plus chargers and 54p per kWh on chargers up to 49kW (Zapmap). Our October charging prices report breaks this down by network, and the state of public charging puts the numbers in context.

Charger speed	Average pay-as-you-go price, August 2026	Cost of 50kWh
50kW and above	77p per kWh	£38.50
Up to 49kW	54p per kWh	£27.00

What this means for you

A bigger network makes a public-charging-only life easier, but the price is the real test. At 77p per kWh, a 50kWh rapid session costs £38.50, so a home or workplace charger remains far cheaper for regular driving. Use the slower, 54p per kWh chargers when you can leave the car for longer, and compare networks before a long trip using our guide to cheap public charging options. We found no Zapmap end-of-August or end-of-September figures published yet, so July is the latest total.