Where can I charge my electric car for free?

The UK's electric vehicle market continues to grow into its next early majority phase and as you would imagine the charging infrastructure to support it is expanding rapidly each month too.

However, as more drivers make the switch to electric vehicles (EV), that investment in public charging infrastructure means that the early carrot of free public electric car charging stations is in decline.

It's more of a reasonable ask at this stage of the market to expect to have to pay for charging while out on the road.

EV affordability is improving, with new prices coming down and a rapidly growing used EV market that opens the door to EV driving.

There are still free options out there, but according to Zapmap's latest data from April 2024, out of the 59,000 charging devices in the UK, 2,354 (4%) of them were free to use.

That's a big drop in free charging from around 20% of the UK's 25,000 charging points being free back in September 2021.

 

 

Charge your car from the comfort of your home

When reviewing the cost of charging, installing a charger at home has to be factored in when you're looking at running costs.

Charging your EV while you're asleep and during your energy tariff's off-peak rate is the best way to access the very lowest prices to top up your battery.

Smart Home Charge's own cost to charge tool puts this into stark focus when looking at the kind of prices you can expect to pay when topping up at a home charger, compared with a public rapid or destination charger.

Something like a Tesla Model Y Long Range Dual Motor would cost just under £5.50 to top up off-peak at home when running it through the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff.

This compares with around £49 at a rapid charger on a network like Osprey or about £30 at a destination charger.

 

What types of electric car charging points are there in the UK?

There are two types of charging, AC (alternating current) and DC (direct current). In most cases, AC tends to be slower and is used for what is called destination charging.

DC charging is commonly known as rapid charging and as the name suggests, is used to add a significant amount of charge in a short amount of time (usually 45 minutes or less).

 

Slow chargers (3.6kW to 7kW)

These slow chargers are often the type installed at homes or in public car parks and will typically take six to 12 hours to fully charge an electric vehicle from 0-100%.

Whilst up to 12 hours might sound like a long time to be charging, even overnight, it's important to keep in mind that charging from zero to full is extremely rare and would be comparable to running your petrol or diesel car down to an empty tank before filling it up again.

public slow chargers are typically untethered meaning that you will have need to have a charging cable handy in order to use it.

 

Fast chargers (7kW to 22kW)

As you would expect from the name, charge times start to speed up with the higher kilowatt rate provided by fast chargers. These are the kinds of chargers that will be found at destinations like supermarkets or car parks. A lot of businesses that have fast charge points offer complimentary free charging as an incentive to their customers. Charging times can typically range from one to six hours depending on the type of charging point.

 

Rapid charge points (50kW to 99kW)

Unlike slow and fast chargers, rapid chargers use direct current (DC) rather than alternating current (AC) to charge vehicles.

Like the name might suggest, the result of using DC is that the charge point can charge a vehicle much faster, typically taking around 20 to 40 minutes (or the time it takes to grab a coffee and to stretch your legs) to charge an electric car to 80% of its battery capacity.

There are currently around 15,500 rapid chargers installed across the UK, according to Electroverse's Q3 2024 data.

Due to their high maintenance costs, finding a free-to-use rapid charge point is rare however, there are still some other free chargers dotted around the UK, particularly in Scotland.

It's also important to note that whilst most modern electric cars support rapid charging, some older vehicles don't. You can find out if your vehicle supports rapid charging by finding it on our vehicle pages.

 

Ultra-rapid charge points (100kW and above)

These are the charging points using the fastest and latest technology to charge an EV and are also being installed in places like motorways or charging hubs. This cuts the charge time down to around 20-30 minutes but it's mostly likely these ultra-rapid points will come at a cost for users.

While the number of electric cars that support ultra-rapid charging is growing, it's important to keep in mind that a lot of electric cars on the market today are limited to 100kW or less.

According to the latest Electroverse statistics, there are around 7,600 ultra rapid charging points across the UK.

 

For more information on the different uses for AC and DC charging, be sure to check out our article on the topic.

 

Which types of EV chargers are free to use?

The number of free rapid charging points has reduced and so the majority of free EV charging points are now dominated by what would be classified as fast chargers between 7kW and 22kW.

Zap-Map has a filter that can help you find free charging points.

Users of the site can use the filter functionality to search by payment and "free to use" to provide a map of all the free charge points currently across the UK.

There are still quite a few charge points available that are free to use, but there is a slight caveat in that some of them has a status that is "unknown".

 

Destination charging points that offer free charging

Destination charging points typically add around six to 30 miles of range per hour of charge depending on the user's vehicle and are designed to charge an EV over a period of a few hours.

 

Pod Point network

Pod Point's public charging point network has a mix of free and charge per hour locations. There are currently no subscription fees or connection charges for using any of its chargepoints.

It already has destination charging locations at places like Lidl, McDonalds and Premier Inn.

The easiest way to find a free charging point is to search by typing in the area you're looking to charge at and looking through the options to see which destinations offers free charging. There's no option to filter to look at free locations, so it's a bit of trial and error really.

 

Local amenities

Supermarkets used to be a pretty reliable option to find a free electric car charging point.

However, Tesco switched their free chargers to a paid option from November 21, 2022.

Aldi, Asda and Sainsbury's are currently the only supermarket chains that have some free chargers left, while others will have options but you'll have to pay.

 

 

Rapid charging points that offer free charging

While these are becoming more difficult to find, there are still some places that offer free rapid charging.

 

ChargePlace Scotland

Scotland has been leading the way with electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the UK.

ChargePlace Scotland is owned by the Scottish government and has grown its network from 55 public charge points in 2013 to over 2,600 as of 2023.

Network members can use the majority of the network for free and it's possible to view all the free rapid chargers by filtering through the results on the ChargePlace Scotland website.

To access charge points on the ChargePlace Scotland network, you must first order an access card at a one off fee of £10 per card. You can then use this access card to charge your EV for free at 90% of the charge points on the network. 

 

Car dealerships

Nearly every main dealer will have a rapid charging point available. These charging points are needed for topping up demonstrator and customer vehicles, but it's certainly possible that it could be used for free if you were visiting the dealership.

Call or pop-in and ask, but it's probably not the most reliable choice when searching for a free rapid charge.

If you're buying your EV from a main dealer, it's worth asking when placing the order if you can use the charging point on site for free in the future.

 

Tesla Supercharger network

When the Tesla Model S went on sale in 2012, it came with unlimited Supercharging for free, but this then ended in 2017. So if you're an early Model S adopter, you can still enjoy using the Supercharger network for free forever.

However, Tesla does still offer customer deals that allow use of the network for some free Supercharging miles or it can offer charging at a heavily reduced rate.

The Superchargers are perfect for adding a lot of range in a short amount of time, with the ability to add around 172 miles in just 15 minutes. 

 

Is there a way to find out the price per kW of a charging point before I travel to it?

There are multiple comparison sites available to help both EV owners and drivers find out the price of a charge before they travel.

 

Smart Home Charge

We have our own cost to charge tool, which is created to compare the cost of charging networks side-by-side to see which one best suits your journey. Simply choose your vehicle, adjust the mileage dial and get a reflection on charging costs.

 

Electroverse

Octopus Energy's Electroverse has linked up multiple charging networks that can be used with one card and app.

Users can search across multiple networks and look at prices per kWh.

 

Zap-Map

Zap-Map has its own public charging calculator tool that can be used to estimate the cost of fully or partially charge your EV using the public network.