A new grant scheme that could save buyers up to £3,750 on a new electric car has been introduced by the government in a bid to encourage more drivers to ditch their petrol and diesel vehicles.
The new grants will be funded through a new £650m scheme and will be restricted to vehicles priced up to £30,000, with drivers expected to benefit from the discounts as early as Wednesday.
It’s one of several measures the government is taking to encourage people to buy electric vehicles (EV), as it works towards its goal of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.
However, some drivers are still hesitant to make the switch due to a perceived lack of available charging points, despite the government’s efforts to make them readily available.
Here, Yahoo News has produced a map showing every EV charging point near you, with a breakdown of the UK’s best and worst served areas.
How many charging points are there in the UK?
At the end of June 2025, there were 82,369 electric vehicle charging points across the UK across 40,479 locations, according to figures from Zapmap, an app that helps drivers find charging points.
It says that there were 110,846 EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment); meaning individual units of charging hardware, and 116,910 connectors (plugs or cables).
This network of infrastructure is growing, with Zapmap saying that 1,371 net new charging devices were added to its database in June.
Where are the most EV charging points?
While the government’s roll-out of EV infrastructure has been broadly welcomed, some parts of the country are much better supplied with charging points than others.
Here, Yahoo News has put together a map showing charging points per local authority. You can use the search bar to look up figures for your local council area.
London is by far the best served, with a total of 24,429 public charging points as of 30 June this year, according to Zapmap.
The South East is the second best supplied, with a total of 10,654 charging points, followed by the West Midlands with 7,662 and Scotland with 7,129.
The East of England had 6,249 public charging points as of the end of last month, compared to 5,831 in the South West and 5,669 in the North West.
Government figures from February also show that London has by far the largest number of public charging points per capita, with a ratio of 250.4 devices per 100,000 people.
Looking at the supply of EV charging points by this metric, paints a slightly different picture, with some of the regions with the fewest devices overall not faring so badly per capita.
Government figures show the number of public charging devices per 100,000 people across the UK’s regions. (Gov.uk)
Where are the fewest EV charging points?
Some areas are still badly supplied by any metric, however, with Northern Ireland having only 690 publicly available charging points overall as of the end of June.
The government’s figures for the beginning of this year show that the region only has 35.6 public charging points per 100,000 people.
Zapmap’s figures show that the North East has only 2,536 public charging points, although the region doesn’t fare so badly when looking at the government’s per capita figures.
The East Midlands had 3,418 public charging points as of the end of June, compared to 3,517 in Wales and 4,309 in Yorkshire and the Humber.
How many EV chargers does the UK need?
In March, the Public Accounts Committee, which examines the value for money of government projects, warned that ministers have been “slow to address gaps in charge point provision”.
It did acknowledge that the government is on track to meet the minimum 300,000 charging points needed by 2030, when it plans to ban the sale of new fully petrol or diesel cars and vans.
Around 73,000 charge points were installed in the UK at the start of 2025, the report says, which both Zapmap and the government say has since surpassed 82,000.
However, the committee said that “those installed so far have not been evenly spread across the country”.
“Too few have been installed outside of the South East and London, which currently host 43% of all charge points,” it added.
The committee’s report found that rural areas may continue to be less commercially viable for operators and could require further government intervention.
It adds that the government “must act faster to support ultra–rapid charging at motorway service areas”, adding that service stations act like the “shop window” for providing “confidence to drivers that charge points are widespread”.
What other measures is the government taking to boost EV ownership?
Other recent measures to encourage more people to buy electric vehicles includes a £25m scheme for local authorities to support residents without off-road parking to recharge electric cars.
The scheme will see cables connected to people’s homes which run along gullies embedded in pavements.
The government has also announced that road signs for electric charging hubs would be placed across major A roads in England.
Other EV measures announced by the government include providing the NHS in England with an £8m fund to support the electrification of ambulances and medical fleets across more than 200 sites.
There will also be a new grant scheme to help businesses install charging points at vehicle depots nationwide, supporting the electrification of heavy goods vehicles, vans and coaches.
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