What Government Support Exists for EV Charging Infrastructure?

UK government support for EV charging infrastructure in 2026 operates at four levels: individual home chargepoint grants, workplace installation grants, local authority public charging investment and national motorway and strategic road network funding. Altogether, the government has committed over £2.3 billion to EV charging infrastructure through a combination of grants, loans and contracted delivery programmes. Here is what is active, who it helps and where the money is going.

Individual home chargepoint grants

Grant	Eligible applicants	Maximum per socket	Scheme end date
EV Chargepoint Grant (renters/flats)	Renters and flat owner-occupiers	£500 (75% of cost)	31 March 2027
EV Chargepoint Grant (residential landlords)	Residential landlords	£500 (75% of cost)	31 March 2027

From 1 April 2026, the maximum grant rate increased from £350 to £500 per socket for both schemes. Homeowners with a house and a driveway are no longer eligible under the OZEV framework; the home grant is now focused on renters, flat-owners and landlords who face structural barriers to installation.

Both grants cover 75% of the combined purchase and installation cost, up to £500. The grant is deducted from the installer’s invoice; you pay the remaining 25%. You must use an OZEV-approved installer and must own or have a qualifying lease on an OZEV-approved EV before applying.

Workplace Charging Scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is the main vehicle for getting EV chargepoints into business premises, charity sites and public sector buildings. From 1 April 2026:

• Grant rate: 75% of cost, up to £500 per socket
• Maximum sockets: 40 across all an organisation’s sites
• Maximum total grant: £20,000
• Eligible applicants: businesses, charities and public sector bodies with dedicated off-road parking

This scheme runs to 31 March 2027. Organisations must apply before installation begins; installing chargepoints before receiving OZEV approval voids the grant. The application is made through the OZEV online portal using an approved installer.

Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund

The LEVI Fund is the government’s flagship programme for expanding the public charging network, particularly in areas that private investment has not yet reached. Key facts:

• Total fund: £381 million allocated to English local authorities
• Target: over 100,000 new public chargepoints from this fund alone
• Delivery: local authorities commission chargepoint installation through procurement contracts with approved providers
• Focus: primarily lower-powered local chargepoints in residential streets, car parks and community facilities, though rapid charging is eligible as part of wider projects

Most local authorities completed their LEVI procurement processes by March 2026 and installations are accelerating through 2026 and 2027. A new EV Infrastructure Support Service (run by Energy Saving Trust, Cenex and PA Consulting) launched in April 2026 to help councils that struggled with procurement.

The LEVI Fund does not involve direct grants to individuals; it is a programme contracted by councils to install chargepoints on public land for general use.

Rapid charging: Innovate UK technology investment

Beyond infrastructure grants, the government committed £10 million in 2025 for technology development to enable ultra-rapid EV charging without large grid connections. Funded projects must enable at least 12 vehicles to access ultra-rapid charging (delivering roughly 120 to 145 miles of range in 15 minutes) using innovative grid-independent or off-grid approaches. Innovate UK administered the competition with a March 2026 application deadline.

This is a technology investment rather than a consumer or operator infrastructure grant, but its output will be deployable rapid charging technology that does not require expensive grid upgrades at each site.

Motorway and strategic road network

The Rapid Charging Fund was established to subsidise the grid connection costs for ultra-rapid chargepoints at motorway service areas. Grid connections at motorway locations can cost £500,000 to £1 million or more, making commercial investment in high-powered chargers (150kW to 350kW) difficult to justify without subsidy. The Rapid Charging Fund bridges this gap for qualifying sites.

As a result, most UK motorway service areas now have or are installing ultra-rapid charging hubs. Operators including Gridserve, Osprey, BP Pulse and MFG EV Power have all benefited from this programme. The government’s target is for every motorway service area to have at least six ultra-rapid chargepoints.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Devolved governments run their own charging investment programmes alongside the OZEV grants (which are UK-wide for home and workplace grants):

• Scotland: The Scottish Government’s Switched On Towns and Cities programme and the Zero Emission Vehicles Scotland fund have funded thousands of public chargepoints. Scotland has a higher public chargepoint density than England relative to its EV fleet size.
• Wales: The EV Charging Network Wales programme is delivering charging in public car parks, community facilities and workplaces.
• Northern Ireland: OZEV chargepoint grants apply here as in the rest of the UK. The Department for Infrastructure NI has its own supplementary programmes.

Private sector investment alongside government funding

The government’s stated position is that public funding should crowd in private investment, not replace it. The target is £6 billion in private investment in EV charging infrastructure by 2030. Major energy companies, oil majors (bp, Shell), specialist operators (Pod Point, Zap-Map, Osprey) and automakers have all committed capital to UK public charging, partly driven by commercial opportunity and partly by the ZEV Mandate’s effect on EV volumes.

In practice, private investment is concentrated in the most commercially attractive locations: motorways, retail parks and urban rapid charging hubs. The LEVI Fund exists precisely because private investment has not found it commercially viable to serve residential streets, rural communities and areas with lower EV penetration.

What is the current state of the public charging network?

As of early 2026, the UK has over 70,000 public charging points across more than 40,000 locations (Zap-Map data). The split is approximately:

• Slow chargers (up to 7kW): roughly 35% of locations
• Fast chargers (7kW to 22kW): roughly 45% of locations
• Rapid (50kW+): roughly 15% of locations
• Ultra-rapid (150kW+): growing rapidly, particularly at motorway service areas

The network has grown significantly but coverage remains uneven. Rural areas and parts of northern England, Wales and Northern Ireland lag behind the density available in London and the South East.

Common misunderstandings about EV charging support

“The government stopped supporting home charging.” Partially true but misleading. The grant for homeowners with driveways ended; grants for renters, flat-owners and landlords continue at a higher rate (£500 per socket from April 2026).

“All the public charging money goes to motorway services.” The LEVI Fund is specifically targeted at local authority areas that are underserved, including residential streets and rural locations. Motorway charging has separate Rapid Charging Fund support.

“Private charging is fast enough; there’s no need for public investment.” Around 40% of UK households have no access to off-street parking and cannot install a home charger. For these households, accessible, affordable and reliable public charging is the only option. Government investment in public charging is a direct enabler of EV ownership for a large segment of the population.

What to do next

If you are a renter, flat-owner or landlord, investigate the £500 home chargepoint grant via an OZEV-approved installer. If you run a business, charity or public sector organisation, apply for the Workplace Charging Scheme before the March 2027 deadline.

For the full grants picture including car purchase subsidies, see our overview of what EV grants are available in the UK. For the complete policy landscape, return to the grants, policy and legislation hub.