EV Charging Business Uptake 2026
How UK small and medium businesses are deploying workplace and customer-facing EV charging. Uptake doubled between 2023 and 2026 driven by the Workplace Charging Scheme and customer-attraction motives. Sample 2026 figures from a cross-sector survey of 5,302 SME premises.
Key takeaways
- EV charge-point deployment among UK SMEs has risen from 14% of premises in 2023 to 31% in 2026 (sample 2026).
- Hospitality and retail lead deployment — 47% and 42% of premises respectively — citing customer dwell-time benefits.
- Manufacturing remains the laggard at 18%, constrained by grid-connection upgrade lead times.
- Average installed capacity per site is 22kW; only 9% of sites have rapid (>50kW) charging.
- Top barrier to install is upfront cost (cited by 53%); grid connection comes second (38%).
Headline chart
Methodology
Sample 2026: Yolist surveyed 5,302 SME premises across hospitality, retail, automotive, healthcare, professional services, education, manufacturing, leisure and logistics between October and December 2025. Charging-point counts were verified against the OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme grant records where claimed. Sector weights match ONS Business Population Estimates. Figures clearly marked "sample 2026" and intentionally illustrative for MVP.
Cite this report
APA-style:
Yolist. (2026). EV Charging Business Uptake 2026. Yolist Research. https://yolist.uk/research/electric-vehicle-charging-business-uptake-2026Embed this chart
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