Fastned and MFG EV Power named best charging networks in Zap-Map survey

Fastned and MFG EV Power have taken joint first place in Zap-Map’s annual EV charging network ranking.

Now in its fifth year, the league table comes from Zap-Map’s annual EV charging survey, conducted in September 2022. The survey saw record responses from more than 4,300 EV drivers.

As part of the survey, respondents rated their overall satisfaction for the networks they use regularly, which is then used to rank each network out of a maximum of five stars. They also rated their level of satisfaction with the networks in five key areas: reliability, ease of use, customer support, value for money, and payment options.

Fastned and MFG EV Power – which both provide hubs with multiple chargers at each location – scored particularly highly for reliability and ease of use, earning them joint first place.

Fastned operated 30 rapid charging devices and 31 ultra-rapid devices at 12 locations across the UK and has plans for rapid expansion. MFD has 220 ultra-rapid charging devices across 43 locations; predominantly at fuel forecourts.

InstaVolt, which topped the list last year, slips to third place, while Connected Kerb and Osprey come in joint fourth.

Ionity moves up the table to sixth, while Podpoint drops from fourth to joint-seventh alongside new entrant Mer and Ubitricity.

Gridserve Electric Highway fell from joint-fifth last year, to joint-10th, while GeniePoint has dropped from 11th place last year to 19th position overall.

BP Pulse and Shell Recharge have also slipped down the table.

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder & COO at Zap-Map, said: “The Zap-Map survey shows that while many networks provide a dependable, easy-to-use service, others have room for improvement. As EVs increasingly enter the mainstream, it’s crucial that collectively we make public charging as simple and reliable as possible.”

2022 has continued to see significant growth in the number of new EV drivers across the country, despite supply chain issues hampering the automotive sector overall. There are now around 600,000 pure-electric cars now on UK roads, roughly 200,000 new EV drivers this year, with a parallel increase in the charging infrastructure that supports them.

The UK now has almost 36,000 charging devices, an increasing proportion of which are ultra-rapid chargers ideal for longer journeys. Indeed, as of October there has been a 76% increase in the number of ultra-rapid devices across the country since the same period last year.

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