More EV chargers in one London borough than eight other cities

There are more electric vehicle chargers in one London borough than the country’s biggest cities combined, analysis by The Telegraph can reveal.

The latest government national electric charger figures expose a huge gap in charging infrastructure between London and the rest of the country, with Westminster containing more chargers than all of the country’s eight biggest cities after London.

The 1,832 chargers in Westminster dwarfs places like Birmingham, which has 429 chargers, the City of Manchester with 158, and Newcastle with only 152.

The central London borough also has 893 chargers per 100,000 people, which means chargers are 18 times more prevalent than in Leeds, and 28 times more prevalent than Bristol.

‘Asleep at the wheel’

Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, criticised the findings, saying the Government was “asleep at the wheel” and towns and cities across the country were at “risk of being left behind”.

The difference between London boroughs and other cities across the country highlights the major gulf between London and the rest of the country when it comes to electric vehicle infrastructure.

Across London, there are 131 electric vehicle chargers for every 100,000 people on average, which increases to 210 for inner London.

For the rest of the country, the average drops significantly to just 41.8 per 100,000.

There are also only four places outside of London and the South East which contain more than 100 chargers per 100,000 people.

This includes Coventry, which has the most electric chargers outside of London with 903, the equivalent of 263 chargers for every 100,000 people

It comes as the latest figures also reveal that the Government is well behind its target of installing 300,000 electric chargers by 2030.

To help drive the roll-out, the Government announced last year that it would be investing £450 million towards installing publicly accessible charging points.

Responding to the figures on Thursday, both the AA and the RAC said that EV installation was not keeping pace with demand and a quicker roll-out was needed.

Ms Haigh said there is no time to lose on charging infrastructure and the “ever-ending chaos government risked stalling the switch to electric vehicles”.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We want to maximise the opportunities available for motorists to switch to electric vehicles, which we’ve supported by spending more than £2 billion.

“Today a driver is never more than 25 miles away from a rapid chargepoint anywhere along England's motorways major A roads.”