The latest figures have revealed there are 9,300 EV charging stations in the UK compared to 8,400 fuel stations

Electric car owners now have almost 1,000 more places to publicly charge their vehicle than petrol and diesel owners have to fill their tank, in a landmark tipping point for motorists.

The latest figures have revealed there are 9,300 EV charging stations in the UK compared to 8,400 fuel stations.

The crossover has taken place a year before Nissan’s 2016 prediction of August 2020 – a result of the fast-improving infrastructure for electric vehicles in the UK.

Sales of pure EVs are up by 70 per cent this year as buyers take advantage of government grants and perks such a road tax exemption and, from 2020/21, no company car tax.

In fewer than 100 years since Britain’s first fuel station opened at Aldermaston in Berkshire in November 1919, the number of forecourts has peaked, declined and been overtaken by charging stations designed for battery-powered cars.

Almost 80 per cent of UK petrol stations have closed since 1970, while the number of electric vehicle charging locations has increased from a few hundred in 2011, when Nissan launched its LEAF electric car in the UK, to 9,300 in August 2019, according to the charging platform Zap-Map.

More than 1,600 of these locations provide ‘rapid charging’, where a typical EV battery can be charged to around 80 per cent in under an hour.

Kalyana Sivagnanam, managing director, Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd, said: “Many consumers are saying their next car will be electric.

Read more: Mirror