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EV charging stations in England

66,484 charging locations and 130,115 ports across 538 cities and towns, 20,228 of them DC fast.

Charging in England

England holds the overwhelming bulk of UK charging, and the city grid shows it. London alone runs to thousands of charging locations, while Coventry and Liverpool both carry far more than their size suggests. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Leicester, Bradford and Sheffield each hold dozens to low hundreds, and most towns of any size have at least a cluster.

Most of it is Level 2: kerbside and lamp-post posts on residential streets, plus car park, hotel and retail units. Only about one port in six is rapid, so high-power charging is the scarcer half. Shell Recharge Solutions, SureCharge (FM Conway), Char.gy, Total Energies and POD Point lead by number of locations.

On the road

Long-distance driving here runs on the M1, M6, M25, M4, M5, M62 and A1(M), and rapid coverage along them is generally good. Motorway services carry banks of high-power units, and many drivers pull off at a junction retail park or supermarket instead, where there are often more stalls and shorter queues. Cross-country A-roads between the motorways are thinner but rarely empty.

Plugs and payment

Type 2 is the standard AC connector and CCS2 the standard rapid one, with CHAdeMO surviving on older units. Many kerbside and lamp-post posts are untethered, so keep your own Type 2 cable in the boot. Contactless tap-to-pay is common on newer rapids; older Level 2 posts often still want an app or RFID card.

Three things to know

  • Lamp-post charging suits overnight street parking, but check the bay's parking restrictions separately from the charging session.
  • Motorway services get busy on Friday evenings and bank holidays; a nearby retail park often has free stalls.
  • Rural stretches between motorways thin out fast, so top up in the last decent-sized town before you commit.

Cities in England

Towns smaller than 20,000 residents are not listed here, but the live map covers every public charger in England: search for the town or allow location access.

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