Kelly Harrison, director at Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions looks at the future of EV charging.
For much of the past decade, the UK's electric vehicle charging story has been defined by building more of the right infrastructure. As more drivers switch to electric vehicles (EVs) and organisations invest in electrification, expanding the charging network remains critical to supporting the UK's transition to cleaner transport.
According to the Department for Transport, the UK had almost 117,000 public EV chargers by January 2026. Yet with the Government estimating that around 300,000 public charge points will be needed by 2030, it's clear that deployment must continue at pace.
As the network grows in both scale and complexity, success can no longer be measured by installation numbers alone. The focus must also shift towards how this infrastructure performs once it's in operation. As part of the UK's wider smart infrastructure ecosystem, charging networks must be designed not only to expand capacity, but to deliver a reliable experience users can trust.
Scaling the UK's charging network
When EV charging works well, most people never think about what happens behind the scenes. Drivers simply expect to arrive, plug in, authenticate, pay and continue their journey.
Delivering that seemingly straightforward experience depends on a complex combination of technologies working together. Customer authentication, payment processing, charger availability, software updates, remote diagnostics, energy monitoring and billing all play key roles. As charging networks become larger and more geographically dispersed, maintaining visibility across these systems becomes increasingly important.
This marks an important shift in the industry's priorities, and installing charging infrastructure is only the beginning. Operating and managing increasingly connected charging networks efficiently over many years is becoming just as important.
Making infrastructure work harder
Like any distributed infrastructure, EV charging networks require continuous oversight. Operators need to understand how assets are performing, identify faults quickly, monitor energy consumption, maintain secure payment services and ensure systems remain up to date.
As charging infrastructure becomes more deeply integrated into the UK's transport and energy systems, operational resilience is vital. Remote monitoring, real-time visibility and proactive maintenance all help to minimise disruption, and can reduce unnecessary site visits and operational costs.
The same principle applies to network planning. Understanding how charging infrastructure is being used is crucial. Monitoring usage patterns, identifying peak demand and anticipating future capacity requirements enables operators to make better investment decisions while improving the experience for users.
Energy management also plays a growing role. Research from Field Dynamics suggests EV charging demand across the UK could reach 18TWh annually by 2030, rising to more than 80TWh by 2045. Supporting that level of demand will require continued investment in charging infrastructure, but also smarter ways of managing the networks already in place.
Better insight into energy consumption, charger utilisation and load balancing will help operators optimise existing infrastructure, and ensure networks continue to perform as demand grows.
Designing for resilience
As EV adoption continues to accelerate, confidence in the charging network remains fundamental. Every positive charging experience reinforces trust in electric mobility, while every failed session risks undermining it. Reliability is becoming more than a technical measure, as it's increasingly a measure of confidence in the wider infrastructure supporting the UK's transition to electric transport.
Connectivity plays a central role in enabling that confidence. Although largely invisible to end users, it underpins almost every aspect of the charging experience, from customer authentication and contactless payments through to remote monitoring and energy management.
Connectivity also gives operators the insights needed to understand what is happening across charging estates. The ability to identify faults before they affect users and monitor performance across multiple locations helps improve resilience while reducing maintenance overheads.
As charging networks continue to expand, this level of visibility is becoming an essential part of delivering dependable infrastructure for people.
The next measure of success
The UK has made significant progress in expanding its public charging network, and this momentum must continue. But the next phase of the country's EV journey presents an opportunity to redefine what success looks like.
Building more charge points and delivering a high-quality customer experience are not competing priorities. Every new charger should contribute to increasing capacity and strengthening confidence in the network as a whole.
The success of the UK's EV transition will not be judged by how many charge points are installed, but whether the infrastructure consistently delivers the reliable experience that people, businesses and communities increasingly depend upon.