Navigating the electric reality

If you had told me two years ago that my father would one day book an appointment to look at an electric car, I would not have believed you. Someone who has driven the same petrol car for over a decade and wouldn’t sacrifice mechanical reliability for the sake of innovation. Electric vehicles, to him, represented an interesting concept rather than a realistic, practical option.

And yet, only a couple of weeks ago, I found myself sitting alongside him in a showroom, waiting for an advisor to talk us through electric models, charging options and running costs.

Getting him in the room felt significant, but no purchase was made. While curiosity has replaced resistance, perhaps not enough is being done to replace scepticism with confidence.

Two years on: what has changed?

In 2024, discussion around electric vehicle charging was primarily shaped by concerns over access, availability and the basic scale of the network. Long‑distance journeys required careful route planning, charging reliability was uncertain, and public infrastructure was still perceived as emerging rather than established.

Two years on, the landscape has changed in important ways. Network coverage has expanded, home charging is more widely adopted, and public awareness of charging infrastructure is significantly higher. Electric vehicle ownership has moved from niche adoption into early mainstream uptake, and charging provision has shifted from experimental deployment to structured national delivery.

However, the core challenge has evolved rather than disappeared. The issue is no longer simply whether charging infrastructure exists, but whether it delivers consistent reliability, accessibility and user confidence at scale.

The infrastructure gap

As of the end of January 2026 there are over 1,850,000 fully electric cars on UK roads, representing approximately 5.4% of the total vehicle fleet. In parallel, EV charging infrastructure is, in raw numerical terms, around 180 times less congested per vehicle than petrol infrastructure. When you combine that with the growing availability of home charging, the overall charging ecosystem presents a strong case for cost efficiency and accessibility. On a purely quantitative basis, the balance of infrastructure provision appears favourable.

However, user experience is shaped by more than infrastructure volume alone. Confidence in charging systems is influenced by visibility and reliability, rather than numerical density. As industry leaders have observed, clear physical signage plays a critical role in building user trust, reinforcing the principle that infrastructure must be both operational and accessible in everyday environments.

This gap is further illustrated by growth trends over the last two years. Over the same period, public charging points increased by approximately 19%, while the number of electric vehicles on UK roads increased by around 80%. This divergence highlights the pressure on infrastructure delivery to keep pace with adoption rates, not only in capacity terms but also in user confidence and service reliability.

What initiatives are in place to promote and improve this visibility and accessibility?

There are a number of policy and market measures now targeted at addressing these challenges:

Home charging: a £63 million government funding package to support home charging access for households without driveways, expanding charging availability beyond private residential ownership models.

Infrastructure visibility: Industry emphasis on improved signage, standardisation and visibility of charging infrastructure to support user confidence.

Fuel pricing policy: the phasing out of the temporary 5 pence per litre fuel duty reduction to widen the operating cost between fuel and electric vehicles, strengthening the economic case for transition and therefore investment.

Public network investment: continued public funding of a further £200 million to support expansion of the national charging network and improve geographic coverage.

Meeting goals and delivering on an electric future

To meet the government’s stated ambition of delivering 300,000 public charging points by 2030, these initiatives will have to be implemented effectively. In 2022, the UK had approximately 37,000 public chargers, implying a required average annual growth rate of around 30% to meet the 2030 target. However, over the past 4 years, the averages year-by-year growth has been around 24%.

Based on current adoption trajectories and infrastructure requirements, achieving the 2030 target will now require an estimated average annual growth rate of 35% in public charging provision.

With these measures in place, perhaps the government can expedite progress, allowing confidence and capacity to grow in unison.

How can we help

Oli Fox is a paralegal is our real estate team.  The team advise clients on a full range of commercial property matters, including advising clients on the installation of Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) portfolios, reviewing rental arrangements, energy regulations and planning requirements.