New phase for the maturing EV charge point market

What’s the history of the UK EV charge point market?

The technology behind electric cars is nothing new. Manufacturing of the first electric cars began in the 1800s. However, widescale market adoption of EVs didn’t take off until the 2010s following the rise in clean air zones to curb pollution in cities globally and the introduction of carbon reduction targets. To support the need for more EVs, public charging became a necessity.

The early market and CPO emergence

UK Government’s announcement of the Plug-In Car Grant in January 2011 subsidised the cost of a new EV for buyers. This fuelled interest in the market, however, at this point, public charging infrastructure was minimal at around 1,500 chargepoints.

Following the announcement, charge point operators (CPOs) announced nationwide pioneering networks linking up the UK. Prior to these networks, installers and local governments focussed charge point schemes on local, often urban, areas. In 2011, the first national public networks were established.

• Chargemaster plc set up its nationwide EV charging network - Polar,
• And Ecotricity set up the Electric Highway, installing chargepoints at motorway service stations in partnership with Welcome Break.

Market expansion

From the early adopters and the market pioneers, the chargepoint industry has rapidly expanded; however, the exact number of CPOs currently operating in the market isn’t clear. ChargeUK, the trade association for the charging industry has over 40 members but other sources have suggested CPO numbers could be much higher. Despite high numbers of CPOs, Zapmap found that 15 of these made up 58% of the market with the five biggest CPOs making up a third of the market.

The number of public charging devices has grown from under 5,000 in 2015 to over 121,000 at the end of May 2026. Public subsidy from the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund to support Local Authorities deliver residential charging has supported this expansion. The LEVI pilot scheme in 2022 funded over 1,000 public chargepoints with £10 million of public funding which CPOs matched with private investment. Since then, the Government extended the pilot in 2023 to deliver over 2,400 more chargepoints. In June 2025, the Government confirmed that it, alongside industry, expects to install over 100,000 local chargepoints, backed by the LEVI scheme, in the coming years.

In 2020, the Government announced the Rapid Charging Fund designed to fund a portion of the cost of upgrading the electricity grid at motorway service areas. However, the pilot study concluded without making any award. Despite this, rapid charging has continued to grow in the UK, funded by private investment.

Source: Department for Transport

During this phase of expansion, there’s been a lot of market change. The rise of rapid (50kW-150kW) and ultra-rapid chargers (150kW-300kW) has shaped the charging landscape in the UK, with over 3,400 rapid chargers added to the public network in 2025 alone. There’s also been a more recent focus on public charging for larger vehicles on the public network as the market continues to expand, change and develop.

Throughout this change and growth, there have been new CPO market entrants, leavers, acquisitions and mergers. Some of the more notable market changes include:

• GRIDSERVE acquired the Electric Highway from Ecotricity in 2021.
• BP Pulse acquired the Polar network in 2018; however, at the start of 2026, as part of a shift in strategy, BP Pulse retired the original destination-based network, and Roam is now the operator for these sites. BP Pulse made the decision to focus more on building high-speed, on-the-go charging.

In the first half of 2026, there have been a significant number of acquisitions. As markets mature and evolve, we typically see this kind of consolidation. Several factors can drive this including market need for standardisation, a lack of organic growth, a maturing market that’s harder to stand out in or an increase in competition. Some examples of acquisitions include:

• Be.EV’s acquisition of Mer’s UK public charging network. Following this, Mer finalised the sale of its UK EV fleet charging division to its existing leadership team, marking its full exit form the UK market. Mer has said this transition reflects its strategy going forward to focus on its strategy in the Nordics, Germany and Austria. The fleet charging business will continue under new ownership led by members of the existing management team.
• Connected Kerb’s acquisition of Trojan Energy’s Flat & Flush on-street charging technology and associated network after Trojan Energy entered administration in February 2026.
• Ubitricity’s acquisition of FM Conway’s SureCharge network. This move added more than 2,400 charge points to the ubitricity Shell Recharge network.
• Pod’s acquisition of EO Charging - provider of EV fleet and depot charging - in May 2026. This followed the announcement that EO charging went into administration in April 2026 after it made losses following overseas expansion.

However, there’s also been a market entrant. BYD, a Chinese technology company, plans to install 300 ultra-rapid 1500kW chargers in the UK by the end of next year.

What does this mean for EV charging infrastructure?

On one hand, some CPOs are exiting the market or re-focussing operations and business cases. However, we’re also seeing CPOs that are growing and who are focussing on market niches and unique propositions that are providing charging solutions for an evolving EV landscape.

Continued expansion of EV charging infrastructure is certain as the market grows towards targets such as the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The Climate Change Committee, in its 2026 progress report, found that the public chargepoint roll-out is on track to reach 300,000 chargepoints by 2030. Along with more recent Government support such as continued funding for the LEVI scheme, the Electric Car Grant, to provide discounts to new EVs, and the plug-in van grant, we expect the chargepoint market to continue to mature. As it does this, ongoing consolidation is likely.

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