Half of the councils covered by Vauxhall’s latest Freedom of Information exercise reported having no on-street electric-vehicle charging provision in their area, the manufacturer said.
Vauxhall said the exercise covered 414 UK councils between May and July 2026. More than 90% of those councils had at least one public EV charger in their area, but the company’s findings distinguish general public charging availability from on-street provision for residents.
Vauxhall reported that 39% of councils now offer on-street charging. That compares with 31% in its 2023 research, when the company reported that 66% of councils had no on-street chargers.
The manufacturer also said 32% of councils have a published strategy for residential on-street charging. In addition, 46% reported having a dedicated EV-charging policy officer, up from 31% in 2023.
According to the findings, 78 councils installed at least one on-street chargepoint during 2025. These figures concern council areas and reported availability; they are not a count of every public chargepoint or every street without access to charging.
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Vauxhall said more than 13,000 streets have been registered through its Electric Streets of Britain initiative as needing nearby charging. The company launched the initiative in 2023 and frames it around households without driveways that may need residential charging close to where they park.
Through the initiative, Vauxhall works with chargepoint operators char.gy, Connected Kerb and Kerbo Charge. The campaign is intended to draw attention to locations where residents may not have access to off-street charging.
The results present a picture of increased local-authority activity since 2023, but also show that on-street coverage remains absent in many council areas. The rise from 31% to 39% in councils offering on-street charging does not mean that all residents within those councils have access to a chargepoint.
Vauxhall’s results are company-reported FOI findings rather than an official national census of charging infrastructure. The figures should therefore be read as a survey of council responses and policies, rather than a definitive measurement of the number of EV chargers available across the UK.
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