Official Statistics

Electric vehicle charging device grant scheme statistics: April 2021

Published 20 May 2021

About this release

This summary presents experimental statistics on the number of grants awarded for the installation of electric vehicle charging devices in the United Kingdom up to April 2021. This is the first quarterly statistical release in the series.

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) provides grants to support the use of electric vehicles, including the installation of charging devices in the UK. This summary covers statistics on selected grant schemes currently running, including the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) and the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).

Key findings

As of 1 April 2021:

• OZEV funded grant schemes have delivered 177,063 domestic charging devices since 2013
• a total of 136,730 domestic charging devices have been installed under the EVHS with an additional 40,333 from the preceding Domestic Recharge Scheme (DRS)
• a total of 13,586 sockets funded by the WCS have been installed in workplace carparks since the scheme started in 2016
• a total of 681 public charging devices have been installed under ORCS, with funding awarded for over 3,200 to be installed in the future

Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS)

The EVHS provides grant funding for up to 75% of the cost of installing electric vehicle charging devices at domestic properties across the UK. More information on the grant scheme is available.

Chart 1 shows the cumulative growth of EVHS funded charging devices (Table EVG_01)

Since September 2014, a total of 136,730 domestic charging devices have been installed under the scheme, with a total grant value of over £69,000,000 as of 1 April 2021. In the last year alone, EVHS funded charging devices have increased by nearly a third. In 2020, 42,425 more charging devices were installed with a grant value of £16,971,333.

These statistics are taken from a database held by the DVLA which records grant applications for administrative purposes. Grants can take several months to process and the most recent quarters are likely to be undercounted, especially the first quarter of 2021 (January to March). The statistics should therefore be treated as provisional.

In addition to the EVHS, the Domestic Recharge Scheme (DRS) has also helped private plug-in vehicle owners offset the upfront cost of the purchase and installation of a dedicated recharging unit. This funded an additional 40,333 domestic charging device installations between 2013 and 2014, before it was replaced by the EVHS. A quarterly breakdown of DRS installations can be found in Table EVG_09. Together, the EVHS and DRS have contributed to the installation of 177,063 domestic electric vehicle charging devices across the UK as of 1 April 2021.

There is an uneven geographical distribution of EVHS charging devices within the UK. Grant uptake by consumers is likely to be dependent on a variety of factors, including:

• access to off-street parking
• leasehold or tenancy properties
• car ownership
• rurality
• income

Map 1 and 2 show the regional distribution of the total number of EVHS installations and per 100,000 households

As Map 1 shows, the South East and East of England have the highest number of charging device installations under the EVHS, accounting for 31 per cent of total devices installed under the scheme. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland has the lowest number of installations with 2,394 EVHS funded charging devices, accounting for just 1.8 per cent of total EVHS funded devices.

This geographical distribution remains similar in Map 2 when comparing EVHS charging devices per 100,000 households, with the largest number of devices per 100,000 households concentrated in the South of England. However, London is comparable with Northern Ireland and Wales with just 345 charging devices per 100,000 households. This could reflect lower car ownership levels and less access to off-road parking in this region.

Table EVG_02 and Table EVG_04 provides a breakdown of EVHS charging devices and their grant value in each local authority in the UK whilst Table EVG_03 provides a breakdown of charging devices installed in each postcode district.

Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS)

The WCS is a voucher-based scheme designed to provide eligible organisations with support towards the upfront costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charging devices. If an application is successful, applicants are issued with a unique identification voucher, which can then be used to install multiple charging devices. In these statistics, the number of sockets installed is counted as sometimes there is one grant for up to four charging devices in the same workplace carpark. More information on the grant scheme is available.

Chart 2 shows the cumulative growth of WCS funded sockets (Table EVG_05)

Since the scheme started in late 2016, a total of 4,853 vouchers have been redeemed accounting for 13,586 sockets installed under the WCS grant as of 1 April 2021. This equated to a total grant value of over £6,000,000. In 2020 alone, a total of 2,101 vouchers were redeemed with a total of 5,821 sockets installed, which represents a 43 per cent increase in the total WCS sockets across the UK. This had a total grant value of £2,561,197. A further 688 sockets have been installed in the first three months of 2021.

These statistics are taken from a database which records grant applications for administrative purposes. Grants can take several months to process and the most recent quarters are likely to be undercounted, especially the first 3 months of 2021. The statistics should therefore be treated as provisional.

Map 3 and 4 shows the regional distribution of the total number of WCS socket installations and per 100,000 of the population

As Map 3 shows, in terms of regional distribution of WCS sockets, the South East has the highest uptake with 2,083 sockets installed whilst Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the lowest. Combined they account for around a tenth of total sockets installed under the WCS in the UK.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also have the smallest number of installations when comparing the regional distribution per 100,000 of the population as seen in Map 4. However, in England, the regional distribution is much more uniform with 20 to 28 sockets per 100,000 of the population apart from London which has nine WCS sockets per 100,000.

Table EVG_06 and Table EVG_07 provides a further breakdown of WCS sockets installed and their grant value in each local authority in the UK.

On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS)

This scheme is available to all UK local authorities to fund up to 75% of the capital costs of installing on-street residential charging devices to ensure that those without private off-street parking are able to access reliable and affordable charging infrastructure. More information on the scheme is available.

As at 1 April 2021, ORCS has delivered 681 charging devices since the scheme was established in 2017. This represents £2,170,133 of grant funding across 31 councils - the details of which can be found in Table EVG_08. A further 140 local authority projects providing more than 3,200 on-street public charging devices have been awarded grant funding at a value of £11,252,167, with their installations yet to be completed. A table of councils which have applied for this funding can be found in Table EVG_09.

In February 2021, OZEV announced that the scheme would continue into the 2021 to 2022 financial year with a £20 million budget.

Current levels of public charging provision by local authority area can be found in the public electric vehicle charging devices statistics which are published quarterly. These will include the ORCS funded charging devices.

Background notes and limitations of data

This is a quarterly statistical release on electric vehicle infrastructure grant data. We would welcome feedback from users of the statistics. This can be provided by emailing Environment Statistics.

These statistics are taken from databases which record grant applications for administrative purposes. In some cases, grants can take several months to process with the most recent quarter likely to be undercounted both for the EVHS and WCS. These statistics should therefore be treated as provisional.

The total number of domestic and workplace charging devices in the UK is likely to be different to the figures provided. For instance, there is no requirement to register a privately funded charging device with the Government. We are also unable to confirm if the charging devices installed under the schemes are still operational. In addition, chargepoint manufacturers have to be approved by OZEV with some choosing not to be part of the grant schemes:

• approved manufacturers for the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme
• approved manufacturers for the Workplace Charging Scheme

In addition, these statistics present data on selected OZEV schemes which are currently running. OZEV offers a range of other support for the take-up of plug in vehicles, including further targeted schemes providing funding to support chargepoint infrastructure across the UK. More information can be found on the OZEV website.

The quarterly statistical series complements three earlier releases presenting statistics on observed usage and charging patterns for electric vehicle charging devices:

• Local authority rapids
• Public sector fasts
• Domestics

The Department for Transport also publishes statistics on publicly available electric vehicle charging devices.

Experimental Statistics

These quarterly statistics are badged as Experimental Statistics. Users should be aware of the status and cautions of these series, which will vary for each statistic and will be explained in each publication. The statistics are new but still subject to testing in terms of their volatility and ability to meet customer needs. They do not necessarily meet the rigorous quality standards of National Statistics, for example with administrative data. Further details on the limitations of Experimental Statistics can be found at the Office for Statistics Regulation.

We are trialling this compact HTML format for our Electric Vehicle Charging Device Grant Statistics, and we would like to hear your comments. If you have any feedback on our use of this format, please email Environment Statistics.

Twitter. To hear more about DfT statistical publications as they are released, please follow us on Twitter via @DfTstats.

Next Update

Quarterly electric vehicle charging device grant scheme statistics will be released in August 2021.