More charging stations than petrol stations in the UK

There are now more electric-car charging locations than there are petrol stations in the UK, according to data sourced by Nissan from the Energy Institute and the online charging-point map Zap-Map.

In 2012, the first year for which data was available, there were 913 charging points in the UK. But since then, that number has increased tenfold to 9,199 at the beginning of August 2019. That compares to 8,396 conventional fuel stations at the end of 2018.

The number of fuel stations in the country has declined sharply since peaking at over 37,000 in 1970. There were fewer than 20,000 fuel stations by 1990 and just over 13,000 by 2000, and that number has continued to reduce sharply year by year in the 21st century.

Nissan says it had predicted the 'crossover' of charging point versus fuel station numbers would happen in late 2020, but it has actually come to pass over 12 months ahead of that estimate.

The contrast is particularly stark in central London, where massive development in recent years has left just four filling stations in the Congestion Charge zone, while Transport for London has installed over 1,000 charging points in the capital in the last year alone.

Commenting on the number, Kalyana Sivagnanam, Nissan GB's managing director, said: "We’ve moved beyond the early concerns of range anxiety, with EVs now exceeding the vast majority of customer’s daily driving needs.

"The next challenge is for charging infrastructure to keep pace with the number of EVs on the road, and that the experience of recharging is as enjoyable and effortless as that of all-electric driving."