Best charging network 2025: UK’s best public chargers named by drivers

Tesla has once again been named the UK’s best charging network by EV drivers.

The US firm’s Public Supercharger network emerged as the highest-rated in the “Large” category of the annual Zapmap driver satisfaction survey. which polled almost 4,000 EV drivers.

It is the second year in a row that Tesla’s publicly accessible network has been named the best public provider, beating MFG EV Power, Ionity and Osprey.

The service scored an overall rating of 4.8 out of five, winning strong approval across the five key criteria of reliability, ease of use, customer support, value for money and ease of payment.

Tesla was included in the rankings for the first time in 2024 after opening some of its Supercharger locations up to other EVs. It has now made 1,115 chargers at 97 locations accessible to non-Tesla drivers – around 54% of its entire UK network.

Its score puts it clearly ahead of second-placed MFG EV Power, which scored 3.9 out of five. MFG’s network has grown by 68% in the past year and now has more than 1,300 devices at 522 locations. Drivers particularly appreciated its ease of use, reliability and wide range of payment methods.

Ionity jumped from the Medium to Large category for the first time in 2025 and tied with Osprey for third in the rankings of best charging network. Ionity has more than doubled in size since last year, with 536 devices in 58 locations. Drivers praised its reliability, ease of use and various payment methods, while Osprey tied with Tesla for the highest customer service score.

Best smaller charging networks

The annual Zapmap research examines rapid and ultra-rapid charging networks and breaks them down into Large and Medium categories. Large networks include any with more than 500 devices, while Medium covers operators with between 150 and 500 chargers.

Sainsbury’s Smart Charge came out as number one in the Medium category, scoring 4.4 out of five. Respondents were particularly pleased with its ease of use and reliability. Smart Charge only launched in January 2024 and last year was named Zapmap’s “Up-and-Coming” network. In the past year it has grown by 40% and now has 335 rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at 84 locations.

It narrowly beat Be.EV, which finished fourth in the large category last year but has dropped into the medium category this year with 406 devices. It scored 4.3 out of five. Fastned finished third in the medium category with a score of 4.2. Already a big player in Europe, the Netherlands-based operator is taking a slow and steady approach to its UK roll-out, with 199 devices at 34 locations.

This year Arnold Clark Charge was named Zapmap’s Up-and-Coming network. The car retail chain only opened its on-site chargers to the public earlier this year but scored highly across all five criteria. Zapmap praised its rapid expansion, optional pre-booking system and assisted charging services. The network currently has more than 250 devices across 57 location but plans to eventually expand this to more than 500 devices at 100 locations.

Satisfaction is improving

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder & COO at Zapmap, said: “These rankings provide first-hand feedback directly from EV drivers, acting as a solid indication of which networks are more reliable, as well as giving the industry guidance on driver needs and priorities.

“Overall satisfaction with the public charging infrastructure has improved — from 64% last year to 69% this year — which is also reflected in the increasing scores across the reliability indicator, the key consideration for drivers. Cost of charging on the public network continues to be a concern for drivers, with the majority of networks, with a couple of notable exceptions, receiving their lowest score for value for money.

“Looking to the future, over 60% of drivers expect the public charging network to continue to improve, and I am sure that the charge point networks will rise to the challenge, carrying on investing in more chargers and putting the customer experience at the heart of what they do.”

While the survey found largely positive results and 10 out of the 19 networks scored highly enough to get an ‘EV driver recommended’ title, there were some poor performances. In the large category the crumbling ChargePlace Scotland scored a lowly 2.1 while BP Pulse continued to struggle, with a rating of just 2.4 and Shell Recharge got just 2.6. They were the only three large operators not to score at least 3.5 out of five.

In the medium category Geniepoint came bottom with a score of 2.4, just behind ESB Energy on 2.7 and Lidl on 2.9.

Vicky Edmonds, CEO of drivers’ group EVA England, added: “The user experience at public chargepoints is fundamental to the success of the transition to electric. With two thirds of EV drivers believing that the public charging network is showing ongoing signs of real improvement, those operators that are focusing on their reliability, accessibility and affordability can pave the way for the sector as a whole to continue to deliver a driver experience that gets better and better each year.”