MC

United Kingdom · public network · 1 July 2026

How can the same network have 97,266 devices and 121,171 EV chargers?

Because the unit changes. The Department for Transport counts physical boxes separately from EVSE that each control one charging session.

Official DfT source · estimated coverage above 95% · official statistics in development

97,266 physical devices
121,171 EVSE

Numerical difference: 23,905. These are not 23,905 extra boxes.

01 / The same infrastructure

Four correct answers to “how many?”

Change only the unit being counted. The schematic stays fixed: one invented location, two devices, three EVSE and five connectors.

Choose the unit
One location, two devices, three EVSE and five connectors An invented schematic shows two charging cabinets. The first contains one EVSE and two connectors. The second contains two EVSE and three connectors. LOCATION 01 DEVICE A DEVICE B EVSE A1 EVSE B1 EVSE B2
3 EVSE Explanatory schematic, not a typical configuration.
01

Location

A geographic place containing one or more charging devices.

02

Device

The physical charging unit. One box can contain more than one EVSE.

03

EVSE

The unit that controls one charging session at a time. DfT calls it an “EV charger”.

04

Connector

The physical plug. One EVSE can have several plugs, but they do not necessarily support simultaneous sessions.

02 / Choosing the unit

EVSE better approximates separately controlled sessions

Devices can undercount potential availability. Connectors can overcount it.

But EVSE is not a promise

An EVSE does not guarantee that a driver can charge immediately. Outages, occupied bays, power limits and hardware design can reduce simultaneous use.

Changing the unit also changes how the network can be compared over time.

03 / The series break

The baseline changed in 2026

The historic device series continues, and the EVSE series has quarterly points from January 2025. Compare values within the same series; do not join unlike units into one line.

04 / A fall that removed no hardware

An operator corrected access, not physical chargers

In the June 2026 feed, about 1,270 private-access EVSE had been reported incorrectly as public. Removing them from the public dataset lowered the total, but it did not describe physical disappearance.

05 / Reading the next total

Four questions before you compare

  1. 01

    Which unit? Location, device, EVSE or connector.

  2. 02

    Which date? A statistical snapshot is not a live counter.

  3. 03

    Which access? Public, private or a mixture.

  4. 04

    The same series? Do not splice devices and EVSE into one trend.

Method and limits

A measurement lesson, not a network ranking

The totals are DfT's snapshot for UK public infrastructure on 1 July 2026. They are not live figures. DfT estimates that its sources cover above 95% of the network and may revise the series.

The schematic with totals of 1, 2, 3 and 5 is invented to illustrate the definitions. The national gap of 23,905 is not a count of extra boxes, installed power or guaranteed sessions.

Decisive sources

Published 27 August 2026 · Data accessed 27 August 2026 · Markdown edition