**Electric vehicle (EV) drivers in the UK are still suffering from patchy availability of a reliable charging network, which is hampering adoption, MPs have said.**
A report from the Public Accounts Committee has found that the Department for Transport (DfT) has been slow to ensure available rapid charge points on motorways and that London has much more robust charging infrastructure than the rest of the country.
The latest industry figures show that [nearly 20%](https://eandt.theiet.org/2025/01/07/uk-ev-sales-reached-record-highs-2024-market-share-196) of all new UK cars registered throughout 2024 were EVs. However, despite steep discounts provided through the year, EV adoption among private buyers has been lower than anticipated – especially if the government wants to hit its goal of eliminating sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
According to a survey of 2,700 motorists by Cox Automotive in February, some 82% said they felt the UK’s charging infrastructure was poor, while 28% reported issues even finding chargers.
The committee said that motorway service areas in particular act as a “shop window” for drivers to feel secure that charge points are widespread. However, approximately a third of the 114 areas had yet to meet DfT’s original ambitions for each to have six ultra-rapid charge points by the end of 2023.
In 2020, the government announced £950m to future-proof electricity capacity on strategic roads. But the report finds that nearly five years later, DfT had yet to issue any of this funding.
Furthermore, while the UK is on track to reach the minimum 300,000 points needed by 2030, those installed so far have not been evenly spread across the country. Too few have been installed outside of the south-east of England and London, which currently hosts 43% of all charge points.
The report suggests that rural areas may continue to be less commercially viable for operators and could require further government intervention to get the ball rolling.
The committee also found that the interests of disabled drivers have been left behind in the roll-out, with no charge points in the UK currently fully compliant with accessibility standards, which DfT itself helped to create.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the committee, said: “It is welcome to see the EV charging roll-out beginning to ramp up, but this roll-out is not currently taking place equally across the nation.
“Meeting numerical targets for charging points is all very well. Delivering thousands of points allowing Londoners to easily zip around the capital while leaving the rest of the UK’s network patchy is obviously an outcome to be avoided.
“Drivers need confidence that they can use an EV without any risk of getting stranded, or they won’t make the switch. It is imperative that the motorway network has a complete range of charging points as soon as possible to provide some confidence to drivers who wish to travel about the entire country.”