Motorway services and electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs have displaced supermarket car parks as the most popular charging locations in the UK, new research suggests.

More than half (55%) of respondents, to the annual Zapmap survey of battery electric vehicle (BEV) drivers, said they regularly stop at motorway services to charge, while 47% do so at EV charging hubs – these are up from 48% and 34% respectively last year.

Zapmap says the increase reflects the increasing number of charging hubs – which it defines as groups of six or more rapid or ultra-rapid devices – that are opening across the country.

At the end of November 2022, Zapmap data shows there were 99 open-access charging hubs, while at the end of November 2023 this more than doubled to 239.

In contrast, only 36% said they use supermarket car parks to charge their vehicles, down from 50% the previous year.

The drop corresponds with the removal of many free-to-use chargers at supermarkets a year ago. 

Jade Edwards, head of insights at Zapmap, said: “With motorway services and EV charging hubs displacing supermarket car parks as the most popular charging locations in the UK, the survey gives you a good indication of just how quickly the country’s charging infrastructure is developing.”

The EV charging survey, which was conducted in October 2023, saw record responses from around 4,300 drivers of pure-electric cars (BEVs).

Now in its sixth year, the survey covers a broad spectrum of topics. These include the ratio of EV drivers with or without a home charger, the types of places where EV drivers typically charge and the motivations behind where drivers choose to stop and charge.

Vast majority of drivers use public charge points

It found that although 80% of respondents have a home charger, the vast majority of EV drivers continue to use public charging networks across the country.

Of these, national charge point operators Gridserve, Pod Point and InstaVolt are used by the most respondents – with 36%, 34% and 34%, respectively, using them in the last six months.

As a result, Gridserve overtakes Pod Point in terms of being the network used by the highest number of respondents on a regular basis.

In terms of what types of public charge points drivers use, more than two-thirds (69%) said that they used a rapid (25-99kW) DC chargers, 43% a slow/fast (up to 22kW) AC charger and 38% ultra-rapid (more than 100kW) DC chargers.