Drivers have been told to expect delays when trying charge their electric vehicle this Easter as charge points see spikes in usage.
Analysis of more than 19,000 EV charge points highlighted Easter as the busiest time for electric vehicle charging surpassing Christmas.
In the lead up to Easter, Wednesday and Thursday before Good Friday were noted as the busiest times at public charging stations with millions of drivers fuelling up before hitting the road.
Easter Sunday, however, is estimated to be the quietest day for public charging despite many motorists setting off back home after the Easter weekend.
Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailingmotoring@gbnews.uk
There are now 620,000 plug-in hybrids
PAEaster was recorded as being more popular than the Christmas holidays when it comes to charging.
Ashley Tate, managing director at Allstar Chargepass, which commissioned the research, said: “Understanding how busy holiday periods get for charging is one of the new challenges for electric vehicle drivers, and our data will help to inform this.
“Also, as one of the largest EV networks in the UK with more than 19,000 charge points, now including the Tesla Supercharger network, electric vehicle drivers have many options about how they charge with Allstar.”
Allstar’s figures revealed that for the 14-day festive period preceding last Easter, there were a third less plug-ins for charging, with this year showing an increase in charging volumes.
The spike in charging could be directly related to more electric vehicles being on the UK roads this year as the Government encouraged more drivers to make the switch.
Data found that even on Christmas Eve, typically one of the busiest days on Britain’s roads, it was quieter than every day in the lead up to the Easter period for public charging.
Allstar recorded how the highest volume of charging over Christmas took place in the week before with it then remaining at around half that level from Christmas Eve to New Years day.
More than 14 million drivers were expected to hit the road for the busy Easter period, with National Highways warning in advance to expect delays.
The Government recently announced ambitious plans to increase the level of electric vehicles on UK roads.
This included having 80 per cent of new cars and 70 per cent of new vans sold in the UK have zero emission by 2030, increasing to 100 per cent by 2035.
The mandate sets minimum annual targets, starting with a requirement for 22 per cent of new cars sold in 2024 to be zero emission.
This has prompted many car manufacturers who are either based or sell in the UK to create their own EV offering for consumers.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
There are now over one million fully electric cars on UK roads
PAAs of the end of February 2024, there are now over one million fully electric cars on UK roads and a further 620,000 plug-in hybrids.
In February 2024, 17.7 per cent of all new car registrations were electric, with 14,991 new electric cars registered.
