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Electric Car Charging: The Rise of Zap-Map

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Zap-Map is the UK’s no.1 charging point platform designed to support the electric vehicle (EV) community. Attaining over 80,000 cross-platform users each month (they have a handy app available on iOS/Android too) the charging point map has spent the last few years generating a database of charging points throughout the UK.

As one of the market leaders, we wanted to take a look into what makes the Zap-Map App great and how this handy tool is supporting the EV movement.

Who are Zap-Map?

To an EV driver, Zap-Map are the saviour of electric car driving, but to the traditional motorist their impact is less known. Essentially, Zap-Map is a community-run charging point platform designed to pinpoint public and private electric car charging stations throughout the United Kingdom. Featuring more than 50% of UK charge points, the data captured by its users is imperative to the growth of the network.

How Does it work?

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Zap-Map have a community of over 1000 users who all contribute to the location and status of charge points all over the UK. As a result of such an active network, the platform is able to update drivers in real time, allowing them to plan and amend their route based on the information provided.

(Pictured: Desktop version of the map)

The map itself uses filters to enable drivers to refine the results based on individual requirements like connector type, electric car model, payment and access type, speed and network. The Zap-Chat feature then feeds in to the status of the charge point as users can document any errors in live time.

Zap-Map Database

For those wondering just how much coverage Zap-Map has, the wheel-chart shows the number of individual connectors across the UK, all registered on their platform. Unsurprisingly Greater London hold top spot for the highest quantity, however the South East and Scotland also hold an impressive percentage.

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More to Zap-Map Than Meets the Eye

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Unlike any other charging point platforms, Zap-Map has access to the most amount of public charging points, allowing users to recharge all over the country.

They also have a selection of handy tools available such as the journey cost calculator which allows you to view potential savings you could make if you made the switch to electric. Simply input your electric vehicle's specifications against the car you’d like to compare it against – this could be your current car or another model you are considering.

We tested it out, comparing the VW e-Golf against a 1.5l petrol VW Golf, showing that over a year you could save some serious bucks!

Check out the results and potential savings based on a 100 mile journey in our example.

Handy tools like this are enabling more motorists to educate themselves. Along with home and public charging tools and the car tax calculator, drivers are now more than ever, able to make informed decisions in the EV vs traditional car transition.

Future Updates

Charging points are being added every day in the UK, meaning the charging infrastructure is continuing to grow.

With the help of users as well as businesses updating the map with new installations, this figure is set to grow quicker than ever before. For now, Zap-Map seem to be keeping their updates under wraps, but this is not the case for general EV innovations.

In 2017 the German company Ubitricity, brought its innovative streetlight car charging ports to the UK. Back then this technology allowed drivers living in more urban areas with limited parking or capacity for a private charging port to benefit.

However as we enter 2020, Liberty Global (owner of Virgin Media) looks to advance charging once more, with plans to use the cables and trenches of the broadband provider to extend electric car charging to stations on streets nationwide. Plans to trial this could be in motion as soon as April, with London dwellers being the first to test it out.   


While we know going electric isn’t a quick transition, innovations like Zap-Map give drivers one less thing to worry about. If you’re an EV driver and haven’t already got the app, there is an iOS version and Android version available on their respective app stores. Or if you’d prefer you can access the desktop map on the go.

Found more innovative apps to help your EV transition? Share them with us on Facebook or Twitter!

Image Source 

www.zap-map.com