Britain’s public charging network is still growing, but the pace has dropped sharply, and the industry is pointing the finger squarely at Westminster.

Charge point operators installed 5,100 public devices in the first six months of 2026, taking the national total to 121,171, according to the latest figures from Zapmap, the charging data specialist. That represents growth of 10% year on year, a marked slowdown from the rates of more than 40% recorded as recently as 2024.

Some cooling is inevitable as the network matures, but the numbers matter. The government has set a target of 300,000 public chargers by 2030, and with more than two million electric cars now on UK roads, a milestone passed in April, installations need to keep pace with demand rather than drift behind it.

The slowdown comes against a backdrop of sustained lobbying from carmakers across the UK and Europe to water down the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, the sales targets that require manufacturers to sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year.

The Labour government has already introduced so-called “flexibilities” into the mandate, first brought in by the Conservatives in 2023, allowing manufacturers to sell more petrol cars. Ministers are now considering lowering the headline 2030 target from 80% of new car sales to as little as 50%.

For an industry that builds infrastructure years ahead of demand, that uncertainty is toxic. Charging bosses have previously warned that tinkering with the mandate threatens jobs and investment, and Jarrod Birch, head of policy and public affairs at trade body ChargeUK, believes the message still is not getting through.

“The public charging network has doubled over the past three years, and rapid charging is growing quickest of all, with nine in 10 built outside of London in the past 12 months,” he said. “It is a British success story, funded by private investment made on the certainty of future customers that the government’s ZEV mandate provides.

“But the mandate has now been argued over for three years, under two governments. It is no surprise that investors are hesitating as doubt surrounds the policy once again.”

Not every part of the network is slowing. Zapmap’s figures show ultra-rapid chargers, those delivering more than 150kW, grew 37% year on year in the first half of 2026.

The economics explain why. Ultra-rapid units are typically sited on motorways and major A-roads, where drivers topping up on longer journeys will pay premium prices, and each unit can serve far more cars per day than a standard or rapid device. For operators facing rising installation costs, they are simply the most profitable place to put capital.

Melanie Shufflebotham, Zapmap’s co-founder and chief operating officer, described the first-half installations as “a steady rollout” overall, with “high growth” in the ultra-rapid segment.

There is encouraging news for the millions of drivers without a driveway too. Shufflebotham said councils are at last rolling out chargers funded through the government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) scheme, a £450m programme designed to deliver on-street charging for households without private parking.

“The LEVI funding has seen an increased number of tenders awarded, and these, generally on-street chargers, have started to be rolled out locally,” she said. “This, alongside the uplift in councils supporting through-pavement charging, and an increase in local charging at supermarkets, car parks and fuel forecourts, will encourage more and more drivers to go electric.”

The pressures bearing down on operators, policy uncertainty, fierce competition and rising charging costs, have prompted predictions of a wave of mergers and acquisitions as stronger players absorb struggling rivals.

The first domino has already fallen. InstaVolt, one of the UK’s biggest rapid charging networks, last week acquired the smaller GeniePoint network, a deal few in the industry expect to be the last.