Accessible EV chargers

Accessible EV chargers still in short supply

You may recall the European road trip undertaken recently by DMUK to assess the accessibility of EV charging facilities between Birmingham and Torrevieja in Spain. No charging network was consistently accessible.

Now a new survey highlights just how far we have to go in the UK. The number of councils providing accessible on-street charging might have doubled since last year, but three quarters of councils still do not provide any chargers that conform to recognised accessibility standards.
 

New FOI research reveals wide disparities

In the exclusive new research, 49 of the 194 councils who responded to the Freedom of Information request said they now have on-street charge points that have either been specifically adapted for disabled drivers or conform to the British Standards Institution’s PAS 1899:2022 accessible charging standard. This compares with 24 councils in 2025.

Compared with previous years, the latest research suggests progress is being made. The number of on-street EV chargers located within disabled parking bays has more than doubled since 2024, rising from 105 to 245. An estimated 15% of on-street chargers are now specifically adapted for disabled drivers, while 14% conform to PAS 1899:2022 accessibility guidance.
 

More work required on accessibility

However, the findings show there is more work to do to ensure public charging is accessible for all drivers. While more than half of councils who responded to Vauxhall’s FOI request saying their charging strategies include considerations for disabled and elderly residents, accessible charging provision remains uneven across the UK. The response is revealed just 43 accessible on-street chargers in the North West and 14 in Scotland, compared with 2,131 in London.
 

Eurig Druce, Managing Director, Vauxhall & Group Managing Director, Stellantis UK, said:

“It’s encouraging to see the number of councils providing accessible on-street charging nearly double in the last year. This shows growing recognition of the importance of ensuring disabled drivers can access public charging infrastructure.

“However, our latest research shows there is still more work to do. Three quarters of councils still do not provide chargers that are specifically adapted for disabled drivers or conform to recognised accessibility standards. As more drivers make the switch to electric vehicles, we need to ensure all motorists can easily find and access charge points if we are to bring everyone on the UK’s electrification journey.

“Through Electric Streets of Britain, Vauxhall is continuing to encourage drivers to register their need for on-street charging near them, and for disabled drivers to highlight where accessible charging is required. As the number of on-street chargers continues to grow, we want to see accessibility considered as standard so that going electric remains a practical and viable option for all drivers.”

Electric Streets of Britain

The research forms part of Vauxhall’s ongoing Electric Streets of Britain campaign, which aims to support the millions of UK households without access to off-street parking. As more drivers switch to electric vehicles, accessible public charging will play an important role in ensuring disabled motorists can make the transition with confidence.

Earlier this year, Kerbo Charge became an Electric Street partner, raising awareness of cross-pavement charging solutions. While 7% of councils still allow unsafe cable covers, cross pavement charging creates a channel for the cable to fit in, keeping the pavement clear of obstacles for pedestrians and wheelchair users. By the end of 2026, 42% of councils will have cross-pavement charging available allowing more drivers access to affordable EV charging.

Motorists can register their need for on-street residential EV charging at electricstreets.co.uk (external link will open in a new browser tab or window), with more than 12,500 streets already nominated. Within this number, more than 500 drivers also said that they require disabled access off-street parking.
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Update October 2022 – New national standard for public EV chargers launched

BSI (British Standards Institute) has launched the new national standard for public EV chargers at a webinar attended by hundreds of industry professionals from organisations directly involved in making, installing, and using public EV charge points.

Attendees of the webinar heard from the sponsors of the PAS 1899:2022, Motability and OZEV, along with Catharine Brown, CEO of Designability, and Keir Haines, Senior Product Designer at Designability, who led on the production of their Design Guidance, which was revealed immediately afterwards.
 

Guidance to facilitate good inclusive design

The free online Design Guidance from Designability can be accessed by individuals and organisations looking to ensure their design and roll-out of EV charging delivers what good inclusive design should look like.

Catherine Brown said:

“We strongly believe no one should be left behind in the transition to electric vehicles.
All disabled people should be able to live the life they choose, with greater independence, and feel empowered and included in everyday life.
This is a crucial time for us to ensure public EV charging it is the best it can be, and accessible for all. The standard positions the UK as world leading in this area. We are really excited about the future of public EV charging and how it will help disabled people to feel included, listened to and enable them to play their part in the transition to electric vehicles.”

Keir Haines, Senior Product Designer at Designability added:

“We conducted practical research and design activities directly with disabled drivers and passengers, to understand how the public charge points are failing disabled people. We then explored, with them, what accessible design solutions might look like.
Designers, manufacturers, installers, local authorities, landowners such as supermarkets, and anyone that might have an EV charge point on their premises are key in terms of ensuring that the charging solutions are accessible to all. If these types of people and organisations are demanding good accessible design for all, it’s the perfect starting point to ensuring that everybody, including disabled people, have a great experience of charging in public.
In order for those organisations to have a better understanding of what accessible public charging looks like, we produced the Design Guidance. We want the guidance to act as inspiration for industry. Containing lots of clear, concise information, images and videos to illustrate the guidance, it looks at areas such as; information and signage on where to find the chargers and how to use the charge points, lighting the area around the charge points, size of parking bays to allow enough space around the vehicle, clear access to amenities like toilets, plus much more such as cable and socket types, along with many design examples from the prototypes we developed as part of the process.
Throughout the online design guidance there are also links to the PAS 1899:2022, helping to give a clear understanding of what accessible public EV charging could look like now and into the future.”

One Motability scheme customer and Designability user testing participant said: “It’s really important to be involved in this process as a disabled person, because we are getting our views heard.” And another added: “A good rule of thumb is: if something is hard for everyone, it will definitely be hard for disabled people!”
 

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Further reading and resources

Inaccessible EV charging limits ownership among disabled drivers

There is a series of pilots testing the accessibility of EV infrastructure for disabled motorists

Innovate UK also supports young innovators

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