Recent reports from late December 2025 and early January 2026 highlight a significant slowdown in the installation of public electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the UK, marking the first year-on-year decline in the rate of new additions.

This development has been described as a setback for the Labour government’s net zero ambitions, particularly its push to accelerate the transition to EVs ahead of the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales.

Multiple factors have contributed, based on industry analysis:

• Slower-than-expected EV adoption — EV sales rose to 23% of new car sales in the first 11 months of 2025 (up from 19% in 2024), but growth has been weaker than projected, reducing investor confidence in new charger deployments.
• Rising costs and grid connection delays — Charge point operators face increasing expenses and bottlenecks in connecting to the electricity grid.
• Policy signals — Critics point to “mixed messages” from the Labour government, including the introduction of a pay-per-mile tax on EVs starting in 2028 (announced in the Autumn Budget). Earlier decisions, such as scrapping a £950m rapid charging fund from the previous Conservative government, have also drawn scrutiny.
• Delayed funding rollout — Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding for councils has been slow to deploy, with significant allocations expected only in 2026–2027.

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From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

When ideology hits the buffers of the real world:

From the Telegraph:

The number of electric vehicle (EV) chargers being installed in Britain has fallen for the first time, in a significant blow to the Government’s push for drivers to switch from petrol and diesel.

Public charger installations are down by 30pc for the first 11 months of this year compared to all of 2024, the first time on record the rate has not increased.

Figures from Zap Map, which provides data to the Office for National Statistics, show that 13,469 were installed by the end of November this year, compared to a total of 19,834 in 2024.

The drop is a blow to Labour’s net zero plan to accelerate the switch to EVs and comes at a critical moment, with industry figures warning that a planned pay-per-mile tax on electric cars also threatens to deter sales.

It will raise fresh doubts about the Government’s EV plans. Labour is under pressure to delay or drop an incoming ban on petrol cars after the EU scrapped its own ban, which was due to take effect in 2035.

Full story here.

All of this was very easily predictable.

Government targets are one thing, but EV chargers are usually installed by private companies. And they are not going to waste billions on chargers that will be heavily underutilised for years.

There are still less than 2 million EVs on the road in the UK, despite rising sales, about 6% of all cars. Moreover most of this are charged at home. After all, who would willingly buy one that can’t be?

Demand for public chargers is therefore weak and largely limited to long journeys and business cars.

The DTI reckons we will need half a million chargers by 2030, but we have less than 90,000.

Eventually supply of chargers will rise to meet demand. But in the meantime, drivers without off street parking will be between a rock and a hard place.