The best and worst times to find a free EV charger
Monday morning has been found to be the best time to locate an available EV charger, according to EV charging app Bonnet.
Bonnet, the largest independent charging app in Europe, has published a new publicly available data dashboard that reveals dozens of UK insights based on more than half a million completed charging sessions across over 600 networks.
The dashboard, which will be updated weekly by Bonnet, reflects the current trends related to owning an electric car and using the public charging network.
One of the headline findings revealed by Bonnet is that Monday morning has been found to be the best time to locate an available EV charger, meanwhile Friday at 9am is when the charging network is likely the most difficult.
It also found that most people use public charging networks during the late afternoon. Likewise, an increasing number are taking advantage of overnight off-peak tariffs available to several networks.
The warmer months of April, May, and June were the busiest for recharging last year, while during the colder winter months (December to March) many chargers were unused. The average cost of a rapid charger (over 50kW) is £0.77p per kWh compared to £0.48p per kWh for a slower device (up to 7kW).
The data, which is based on more than half a million charging sessions by electric vehicle drivers across the UK, also uncovers the top five most reliable networks. These are:
- Fastned (99%)
- Allego (97%)
- Char.gy (96%)
- Osprey (96%)
- Connected Kerb (93%).
These figures are based on the percentage of times an attempt to charge a vehicle results in a successful charge through Bonnet. When it becomes law, the recently announced Public Charge Point regulations will require rapid EV chargers – those with speeds faster than 50kW – to maintain a minimum reliability rate of 99% for drivers.
Patrick Reich, CEO and co-founder of EV charging app Bonnet, said: “Bonnet is one of the easiest and most popular ways to charge your car, and that means we have access to unique insights about how tens of thousands of people use public charging networks. With the publication of our new dashboard, we want to enhance people’s awareness and provide actionable insights to the industry and governments – whether it is for town planning purposes or a better understanding for fleet operators.
“Despite the recent government decision in the UK to push the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035, there is still going to be an urgent need to continue building out the public charging networks and boost consumer experience in the decade to come – both in the UK and across Europe. The insights we’re developing can help everyone from businesses to governments to shortcut their understanding.
“We have a dedicated team who can help with any requests people have and are excited to grow this dashboard so we can continue to reflect the latest trends in EV charging.”