Over 82% of UK Local Councils Face Severe EV Grid Bottleneck: Karas Launches Inaugural UK EV Charging Capacity Gap Index
MANCHESTER, England, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 82% of UK local councils face severe electrical grid bottlenecks as surging electric vehicle adoption outpaces local network capacity, according to the comprehensive UK EV Charging Capacity Gap Index published by UK leader in electrification and busbar plating Karas Plating.
Evaluating 382 local authorities, the study warns that Britain's net-zero transition is threatened less by plug availability and more by hidden upstream infrastructure deficits. The index reveals that 83% of councils (317 authorities) are operating either under a Critical Capacity Deficit (26.2%) or at High Bottleneck Risk (56.8%). In contrast, a mere 0.5%, just two authorities nationwide, demonstrate High Infrastructure Readiness.
Britain currently supports roughly 2.2 million battery-electric vehicles served by 121,171 public chargers. This ratio of 18.1 EVs per charger leaves the UK more than 350,000 chargepoints short of the Competition and Markets Authority target of 480,000 by 2030. Meanwhile, annual EV fleet growth averages 35.7% nationally, exceeding 50% in fast-adopting areas and quickly overwhelming local substation headroom.
Regionally, Scotland recorded the highest average capacity gap score (66.3), closely followed by Wales (66.0), which registered the country's highest regional grid constraint at 68.4%. Significant strain also centres on the North West, where rapid fleet expansion clashes with heavily restricted supply.
The report identified the top at-risk areas facing critical grid saturation and steep EV adoption: Knowsley, Wolverhampton, Mid and East Antrim, Salford, Brent, Perth and Kinross, St Helens, Blackpool, Glasgow City, and Wakefield. Major hubs like Camden, Liverpool, and Denbighshire also sit in critical deficit. Conversely, areas showing the most resilient capacity include Lisburn and Castlereagh, Shropshire, Lewisham, Manchester, and Rotherham.
Alan Pennington, Managing Director at Karas Plating, warned that expanding surface-level charge points resolves only part of the challenge:
"Installing a physical charge point is only the final link in a much longer chain. The true bottleneck lies beneath our streets, in substations, switchgear, transformer capacity, and cabling systems that were never designed to handle megawatt-scale residential overnight charging and commercial fast-charging hubs simultaneously."
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