7.4 Charging infrastructure

In 2022, there were about 8500 conventional filling stations in the UK. The number and siting of them has been limited by the need for large underground fuel storage tanks and the logistics of tanker deliveries.

Setting up the necessary equivalent BEV charging infrastructure has a number of problems.

A fundamental difficulty is the speed of charging. Refilling the tank of a petrol or diesel car (and paying) can be achieved in a little over five minutes. Recharging a BEV car battery may take an hour or more, depending on the charging power and the ability of the battery to accept ‘rapid charging’.

A normal domestic 13 amp electric power socket can supply about 3 kW. At this rate, the 24 kWh battery of the early Nissan Leaf shown earlier would require 8 hours to fully recharge. Domestic BEV chargers normally operate at either 3 kW or 7 kW.

Figure 13 shows a typical public roadside charging point

Figure 13: A roadside BEV charging point in Milton Keynes in 2021

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This is a photograph of an electric car plugged into a charging point on a small black pillar on the pavement.

Figure 13: A roadside BEV charging point in Milton Keynes in 2021

Figure 14 shows three 50 kW ‘rapid’ chargers. At this rate, a 24 kWh battery would take about 30 minutes to recharge.

Figure 14: Three 50 kW rapid BEV chargers in a repurposed petrol station forecourt in London.

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This is a photograph of a repurposed petrol station forecourt. At the left there are two enormous bright red advertising models of petrol pumps each about six metres high. To the right are three light blue and white boxes about two metres high each labelled ‘electric vehicle charger’.

Figure 14: Three 50 kW rapid BEV chargers in a repurposed petrol station forecourt in London.

The need for cars to occupy parking space for some time may create issues for the design of future BEV ‘filling stations’. Additional charging points (and, most importantly, parking space) will be needed to cope with the relatively longer times to ‘fill up the car’ and facilities such as coffee shops will be needed to give the drivers and passengers something to do while they wait.

A full transition to BEV vehicles will also increase the UK’s total electricity demand (by up to 30% of its current level). Generating the extra ‘low carbon’ electricity is a national strategic issue, but there is also the question of the need to reinforce the local electricity distribution grid.

There is much concern that the provision of public electric vehicle charging points is not keeping up with the sales of BEV vehicles. In January 2025 there were about 73 000 public charging points available in the UK, but only 20% were ‘rapid chargers’.