REVEALED: Local authorities with the longest EV charge point queues
A list of the local authorities with longest waits for an electric charge point has been revealed.
New research from Leasing Options emphasises queueing times for charge points as one of many barriers the UK faces on the road to switching to electric. To highlight the issue of a lack of charging infrastructure, Leasing Options’ study encompasses a hypothetical scenario in which every electric vehicle needs to use charge points at the same time.
The data encompasses government data on licensed electric vehicles and number of EVs to reveal the number of electric vehicles for every rapid charger. Wait times for a charge point were calculated using the average time-to-charge of the UK’s 10 most popular EVs.
The research found Windsor and Maidenhead have the highest EV per charger ratio over 9,000 electric vehicles for every rapid charger. Though chances of every electric driver in the area turning up at every charge point is minimal, Leasing Options’ research found that drivers in the local authority would have to wait over 315 days for their turn at the charge point.
GOV data shows that just 17% of chargers are rapid, meaning that for every scenario where drivers turn up to unavailable charge points, they find themselves forced to use slow chargers which can take up to 12 hours for a full charge.
There are an astonishing 29,599 electric vehicles in Windsor and Maidenhead, yet just three rapid charge points. As a result it means for every charger in the local area, there’s a 9,866 long queue of electric vehicles.
Windsor and Maidenhead’s number of electric vehicles soared at the end of 2021, increasing over 151% in a matter of months. This, combined with the lack of rapid charge points in the local area, means wait times for a chargepoint Windsor and Maidenhead are the worst in the UK.
Over 10% of total cars in Stockport are electric, but only 35 rapid chargers which means they follow Windsor and Maidenhead as one of the busiest local authorities for number of EVs per charger. According to Leasing Options’ wait time, queueing for an available press release would take 94 days.
Swindon follows next with an astronomical 1,129 electric vehicles per rapid charger and a hypothetical queueing time of 47 days.
In a bit to beat driver boredom in the long wait for chargers to come available, Leasing Options have created a groundbreaking new desktop and mobile game that brings the exhilaration of racing the fastest electric vehicles in the world to a driver’s fingertips.
Designed specifically for those inevitable moments when EV drivers find themselves waiting in queues for a chargepoint, Leasing Options’ racing game transforms downtime into high-octane entertainment.
