Major flaws in charging infrastructure causing headaches for electric car owners

Problems with public chargepoints and a lack of availability are affecting electric vehicle (EV) owners in the UK, with three quarters saying they're dissatisfied with the charging infrastructure. 

Which? is calling for urgent improvements to the EV charging infrastructure after its survey of 1,500 EV and plug-in hybrid-owning (PHEV) Which? members uncovered significant problems with the current lay of the land. 

Finding charging infrastructure that’s actually working is a significant hurdle for nearly half of the drivers surveyed, with four in 10 saying they’ve personally experienced non-working chargers. 

A similar number said they’ve experienced technical issues when attempting to charge their car at a public chargepoint.

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Poor availability of chargepoints

When Which? asked respondents to estimate how far away their nearest public charger was, almost half said that it was more than a 20-minute walk away, making dropping the car off for a charge and picking it up again a slog if you don’t (or can't) have your own charger at home.

One if five survey respondents who told Which? they no longer use public chargepoints said they were put off by the lack of availability. 

And in a separate survey of 2,000 car owners, two in five respondents said the top reason they aren’t considering buying an electric car was the perceived lack of chargepoints.

Despite this, a third of the car owners surveyed said they would be considering buying an electric car within the next two years. 

There is also unmet demand around payment options: around eight in 10 EV owners who have used public chargepoints said they wanted to be able to pay using a bank card, avoiding the hassle of multiple apps and network payment (RFID) cards. At the moment, only a limited number of charging networks offer this facility.

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Queues for EV chargepoints

Michael, a property developer in Cheltenham, is one example of an early EV adopter who has seen the situation deteriorate over time. He bought a Nissan Leaf in 2016. 

He told Which?: 'As more people started to use EVs it became a pain to find a charger that wasn't in use, so the half-hour recharge stop could be an hour while you wait for a charger to become available. 

'There was some friendly camaraderie, where people would stop charging early when they saw cars waiting, but you couldn't rely on that. Because of the tiresome nature of public charging, I now have a Hyundai Kona with a 300-mile range. I almost never go more than 300 miles on a single trip.'

Another survey respondent told us they had been forced to spend the night in a hotel due to being unable to charge their vehicle while on the road.

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Government must improve charging network

Which? is calling on the government to extend its planned ‘reliability standard’ of 99% availability to cover all public chargepoints, not just rapid chargers, which are more frequently found at motorway service stations. 

Consumers also need the ability to pay for chargepoints using a single app, and have the ability to pay with a bank card wherever possible.

Sue Davies, Which? head of consumer protection policy, said:

'Our research shows that the public EV charging infrastructure is falling short as many drivers struggle to find reliable chargepoints in good working order, have to navigate confusing payment systems, or are unable to rely on adequate chargepoints close to their homes or to get them through a long journey. 

'The government must move quickly to implement its plans to improve the consumer experience of using the public charging networks by extending reliability standards across the full network and ensuring proposals for payment roaming make paying to charge much simpler. 

'Charging must be easy, reliable and seamless to support people making the move to an electric car.'