More than 1,000 new electric car charging points have been installed at UK supermarkets in the past 18 months, new figures reveal.
This is an increase of more than a third. The total number now tops 3,900 chargers at around 1,870 supermarkets, according to analysis by Zapmap and the RAC.
Put another way, it means five per cent of all the UK’s 83,851 charge points are now located at supermarkets. And 14 per cent of all UK supermarkets now offer EV charging facilities.
Six in 10 UK supermarkets also now offer higher-powered chargers, with nearly 600 rapid or ultra-rapid units installed in the last 18 months.
Early supermarket charge points were often slower, low-power units, which only added a few miles of charge even after the biggest of shops. Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are in particular are forging ahead with rapid chargers.
Aldi tops the EV table
Aldi has scored the biggest growth in chargers over the past 18 months, via a partnership with Shell Recharge. It has added 393 chargers, tripling the number at its stores to almost 600.
Tesco is still the largest overall network, with 1,409 charge points at 633 locations, but both Aldi and Lidl are catching up – they are now second and third, overtaking Morrisons.
Sainsbury’s has also grown significantly, with its own network of ultra-rapid chargers, called Smart Charge. There are now more than 375 of them at 105 locations: more than double the number of 18 months ago.
This leaves Sainsbury’s just behind Morrisons in the EV charge point league table.
Asda’s EV charging rollout has, however, stalled. Fewer than two per cent of its locations offer electric car charging facilities.
Growth in locations is ‘encouraging’
“A perceived lack of public charge points is one of the main reasons drivers give for not planning to get an EV,” said RAC head of policy Simon Williams.
“It’s therefore extremely encouraging to see so many supermarkets doing what they can to bust this myth installing hundreds more charging units.”
Williams noted that Iceland has now entered the supermarket EV charging point space, installing five devices at two of its supermarkets. Co-op and M&S are also growing their fledgling EV provision.
“We now need to see every retail chain doing what it can to maintain momentum by increasing the number of stores that offer EV charging,” added Williams.
Zapmap founder and COO Melanie Shufflebotham said: “We’ve long been advocates of charging when you can, rather than when you need to, and these locations, especially those providing high-powered charging, offer just that.
“For retail sites, including supermarkets, we also know that EV provision has a significant positive impact on tariff and dwell times, so meeting the needs of the EV drivers of today and tomorrow makes strong commercial sense.”
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