The UK’s Electric Vehicle Hotspots

Local authorities with the MOST EV Vehicles

The growing demand for EVs, driven by environmental consciousness and advancements in technology has meant UK infrastructure is making room for charging points in cities and homes across the country. This expansion in charging infrastructure is significantly enhancing the convenience of owning and operating an electric vehicle.

We analysed the areas in the UK with the most personal electric vehicles registered in 2022.

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Number of personal electric vehicles registered in 2022
1	Buckinghamshire	South East	4,159
2	Wiltshire	South West	2,801
3	Cheshire East	North West	2,323
4	Leeds	West Yorkshire	2,228
5	Cornwall	South West	2,219
6	City of Edinburgh	Scotland	1,949
7	Dorset	South West	1,886
8	Birmingham	West Midlands	1,785
9	West Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire	1,732
10	Central Bedfordshire	East	1,650

With an impressive 4,159 EVs, Buckinghamshire is the leading local authority, followed by Wiltshire and Cheshire East.

Wiltshire is second with 2,801 EVs, leading the authorities in the South West. Wiltshire Council offered grants of up to £2,500 to enable town and parish councils to install public EV charging infrastructure in their communities in 2022, greatly impacting the potential number of EVs on Wiltshire roads.

In the north, Cheshire East leads with 2,322 vehicles. The council has invested in providing several electric vehicle charge points across the county supporting the uptake of EV owners in the area.

Local authorities with the LEAST EV Vehicles

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Number of personal electric vehicles registered in 2022
1	Merthyr Tydfil	Wales	69
2	Barrow-in-Furness	North West	90
3	Hyndburn	Lancashire	118
4	Fermanagh and Omagh	Northern Ireland	120
5	Boston	Lincolnshire	139
6	Burnley	Lancashire	150
7	Mid Ulster	Northern Ireland	151
8	Middlesbrough	North East	156
9	Richmondshire	North Yorkshire	157
10	Oadby and Wigston	Leicestershire	160

In contrast to Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire East, the local authorities with the lowest number of privately owned EVs are Merthyr Tydfil, Barrow-in-Furness, and Hyndburn.

Despite Merthyr Tydfil building 13 chargers at various public car parks across the County Borough, there were only 69 personal EVs registered in 2022.

Merthyr Tydfil’s average salary in 2022 was £30.8k which is 10k under the UK average of £40.0k. This could explain the low number of EVs in the area, however, this is expected to increase in the future as the price of EVs reach parity with petrol/diesel vehicles.

Barrow-in-Furness in the North West came second with only 90 EVs in the area and Hynburn in Lancashire came third with 118.

Local Authorities That Have Had the BIGGEST Increase in EV Vehicles

With sales of EVs rising every year we wanted to investigate which local authorities have had the biggest uptake in EV vehicle ownership.

Looking at the 2021 EV vehicle figures for each region we were able to measure the increase over time, with some local authorities seeing an increase of over 1000 EVs between 2021 and 2022.

Rank	Local Authority	Region	2021 Total	2022 Total	Difference
1	Buckinghamshire	South East	2615	4159	+1544
2	Cheshire East	North West	1354	2323	+969
3	Wiltshire	South West	1835	2801	+966
4	Leeds	West Yorks	1356	2228	+872
5	Cornwall	South West	1405	2219	+814
6	Central Bedfordshire	East	950	1650	+700
7	West Northamptonshire	Northamptonshire	1062	1732	+670
8	City of Edinburgh	Scotland	1281	1949	+668
9	Birmingham	West Midlands	1129	1785	+656
10	Cheshire West & Chester	North West	961	1606	+645

With an increase of 1,544 vehicles, Buckinghamshire is the leading local authority for electric vehicles, closely followed by Cheshire East and Wiltshire with an increase of 969 and 966 EVs respectively.

Buckinghamshire’s increase suggests roughly 4 EVs were purchased every day during 2022.

London Boroughs with the MOST registered EV vehicles

With a range of advantages ranging from reduced running costs to enhanced driving experiences and even free parking, there are a number of benefits for UK drivers to invest in an EV. Londoners, in particular, enjoy additional advantages as EVs are exempt from the London Congestion Charge, further incentivising the adoption of EVs in the capital city.

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Number of electric vehicles registered in 2022
1	Barnet	London Outer	3,012
2	Westminster	London Inner	1,877
3	Bromley	London Outer	1,637
4	Camden	London Inner	1,609
5	Kensington & Chelsea	London Inner	1,548
6	Richmond upon Thames	London Outer	1,527
7	Wandsworth	London Inner	1,439
8	Croydon	London Outer	1,286
9	Ealing	London Outer	1,261
10	Harrow	London Outer	1,159

Our research has shown that Barnet has the largest share of registered EVs in London with 3,012, followed by Westminster and Bromley.

In London around 90 per cent of all car trips are less than 7 miles, making electric vehicles an ideal choice for an emission-free short trip.

Barnet Council has introduced exemptions from Vehicle Excise Duty along with reduced permit prices for EV owners and has over 200 on-street EV charge points in the borough. In comparison, Westminster has more than 2,200 on-street EV charge points and offers a free resident parking permit for EV owners.

London Boroughs with the BIGGEST increase in EVs

Rank	Local Authority	Region	2022 Total	2002 Total	Difference
1	Barnet	London Outer	2,142	3,103	+961
2	Bromley	London Outer	976	1,693	+717
3	Croydon	London Outer	779	1,334	+555
4	Richmond upon Thames	London Outer	1,046	1,582	+536
5	Harrow	London Outer	721	1,196	+475
6	Camden	London Inner	1,207	1,674	+467
7	Wandsworth	London Inner	1,038	1,486	+448
8	Westminster	London Inner	1,511	1,954	+443
9	Hillingdon	London Outer	701	1,132	+431
10	Enfield	London Outer	590	1,019	+429

With an increase of 961 vehicles, Barnet’s registered EVs jumped from 2,142 to 3,103 between 2021 and 2022.

Bromley followed with an increase of 717 EVs and Croydon with 555, tipping their figures over the 1,000 thresholds.

Local Authorities with the Most EV charging spots

The biggest worry for EV owners is how and where they can charge their vehicles. Convenience, time and security are big concerns and most local authorities are now implementing new strategies to increase the availability of chargers across the country.

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Total public charging devices	Total public rapid charging devices	Charging points per 100 cars
1	Coventry	West Midlands	903	51	263
2	Orkney Islands	Scotland	50	10	221.8
3	Stirling	Scotland	148	27	158.3
4	East Lothian	Scotland	171	27	156.1
5	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire	444	118	154.1
6	Brighton & Hove	West Sussex	400	16	144.8
7	South Lakeland	Cumbria	151	34	144.3
8	Highland	Scotland	313	111	131.5
9	Shetland Islands	Scotland	30	6	130.8
10	Argyll & Bute	Scotland	111	26	128.7
11	Pembrokeshire	Wales	158	21	127.8
12	Welwyn Hatfield	Hertfordshire	146	7	122.1
13	Dumfries & Galloway	Scotland	175	36	117.6
14	Perth & Kinross	Scotland	172	55	111.8
15	Dundee City	Scotland	161	56	109
16	Folkestone & Hythe	Kent	117	19	106.3
17	Ryedale	North Yorkshire	57	4	103.8
18	Blaenau Gwent	Wales	68	6	101.5
19	Winchester	Hampshire	124	35	96.9
20	Gwynedd	Wales	112	5	95.7

We measured the total public charging devices, total public rapid charging devices and calculated the number of charging points per 100 cars across the UK to calculate which local authority had the most EV charging spots.

Local Authorities with the LEAST EV charging spots

While the UK has made significant strides in promoting EVs and developing charging infrastructure, one of the persistent challenges faced by EV owners is the limited availability of charging spots in certain areas.

Rank	Local Authority	Region	Total public charging devices	Total public rapid charging devices	Charging points per 100 cars
1	Fenland	Scotland	6	1	5.8
2	Staffordshire Moorlands	Staffordshire	9	2	9.4
3	Lisburn & Castlereagh	Northern Ireland	15	1	10
4	Walsall	West Midlands	30	16	10.6
5	Wirral	Merseyside	37	11	11.5
6	Dacorum	Hertfordshire	18	6	11.6
7	Ards and North Down	Northern Ireland	19	0	11.6
8	Bolton	Lincolnshire	35	10	11.8
9	Wigan	Greater Mancheser	39	18	11.8
10	Tameside	Greater Mancheser	29	17	12.5
11	North Kesteven	Lincolnshire	15	4	12.7
12	Neath Port Talbot	Wales	18	10	12.7
13	Sefton	Merseyside	36	18	12.9
14	Selby	North Yorkshire	12	6	13
15	Sandwell	West Midlands	47	18	13.8
16	Harlow	Essex	13	0	13.9
17	Arun	West Sussex	24	7	14.5
18	Rhondda Cynon Taf	Wales	35	4	14.7
19	Southend	Essex	27	5	15
20	St. Helens	Merseyside	28	10	15.3

One of the key issues is the lack of investment in charging infrastructure. While major cities and urban areas have witnessed a relatively higher concentration of charging stations, rural regions and smaller towns often struggle with limited access to reliable and convenient charging points.

This disparity poses challenges for EV owners, particularly those living or travelling outside major metropolitan areas, who may face difficulties finding a charging spot when needed.

Fenland in Scotland has the least EV charging stations with only 5.8 charging points per 100 cars, followed by Staffordshire Moorlands and Lisburn and Castlereagh in Northern Ireland.

London Boroughs with the most EV chargers per 100 cars

Rank	Local Authority	Total public charging devices	Total public rapid charging devices	Charging points per 100 cars
1	Westminster	1,832	72	893.3
2	City of London	55	7	638.2
3	Kensington & Chelsea	752	5	522.4
4	Hammersmith & Fulham	624	49	340.4
5	Southwark	796	26	259.8
6	Wandsworth	852	31	259.5
7	Islington	389	25	179.5
8	Camden	361	14	171.6
9	Brent	544	19	160.5
10	Hackney	395	16	151.9
11	Hounslow	435	36	151.1
12	Merton	259	17	120.3
13	Waltham Forest	332	13	119.4
14	Lambeth	336	21	105.8
15	Kingston upon Thames	164	16	97.7
16	Ealing	344	36	94
17	Greenwich	271	56	93.7
18	Barnet	352	36	90.6
19	Tower Hamlets	282	18	90.3
20	Lewisham	195	31	65

In an effort to combat the capital’s significant air pollution, the Mayor of London has set an ambitious goal for the city to be carbon-neutral by 2030. To achieve this, the Mayor is actively supporting and accelerating the shift to zero-emission technologies led by an Electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure strategy.

This commitment is evident in the distribution of charging points per 100 cars across the various London Boroughs. Westminster, City of London, and Kensington and Chelsea stand out with the highest concentration of EV charging facilities, while Barnet, Tower Hamlets, and Lewisham have the fewest.

It’s interesting to note that despite having the largest number of EV owners, Barnet has only 90.3 EV charging stations per 100 vehicles, meaning residents may have to cross into their neighbouring boroughs to charge their vehicles.

Most drivers lack confidence that the government will be able to create sufficient infrastructure for the transition to completely electric vehicles by 2035. According to a study by the Royal Society of Chemistry, drivers still don’t feel like they have enough information to make an informed decision about electric cars and whether they should choose one as their next car. Our study shows that although there is a lot of work left to do in terms of charging infrastructure in certain local authorities, EV ownership is increasing year on year.

Although EVs have a higher upfront cost being a lot more expensive, if you’re thinking long-term, then you’ll reap the benefits of purchasing and driving an electric car. EVs are a lot cheaper to run, which potentially adds up to large savings over time, so the government needs to do a lot more in educating motorists.

Dorry Potter, National Scrap Car

Methodology

We chose to include privately registered EVs only, which were taken from the Department for Transport – Table VEH0142.

The number of charging points refers to publically available charging devices in each authority, taken from the Department for Transport’s Electric Vehicle Charging Device Statistics. Data is provided by the electric vehicle and charging point platform Zap-Map and is correct as of 1 April 2022.