Portsmouth’s surprising rank among the UK’s best and worst places to own an EV

Electric vehicle ownership may be growing across the UK, but a new study suggests drivers in Portsmouth could face a tougher experience than those in many other parts of the country.

A new study by Wolf River Electric has ranked 56 UK cities and towns based on the factors that can shape the day-to-day experience of owning an electric vehicle, including charging infrastructure, electricity costs, EV adoption, access to charging-enabled properties, repair services and local emissions.

Portsmouth ranks last overall in the study, recording a total score of just 16.47, placing it 56th out of all 56 locations analysed.

The city’s position is particularly striking because Portsmouth performs reasonably well in some individual areas. It records 49 charging points per 1,000 EVs, giving it one of the stronger charging infrastructure scores in the study.

However, this advantage is outweighed by weaker results across several other measures. Portsmouth records a relatively low level of EV ownership, with just 10 EVs per 10,000 people on the study’s ranking scale. This places it among the locations with the lowest EV uptake in the research.

The city also faces challenges when it comes to the cost of running an electric vehicle. Portsmouth records a normalised score of 56 for electricity costs, the weakest result in the study for this metric. Higher electricity costs can make home and public charging more expensive for drivers, reducing one of the key financial advantages associated with switching to an EV.

Access to properties with charging facilities is another factor where Portsmouth performs relatively poorly. The city receives a normalised score of 28 for the availability of properties with charging spots, suggesting that home charging access could remain a challenge for local EV owners, particularly those without private driveways.

Portsmouth does perform better when it comes to specialist repair support. It records a normalised score of 49 for electric car repair shops per 1,000 EVs, indicating relatively strong access to services that can support electric vehicle owners.

The city also performs relatively well on per-capita emissions compared with some other locations, receiving a normalised score of 15 for this measure. However, the strength of these individual metrics is not enough to compensate for its weaker performance in other areas.

Portsmouth’s result places it well behind other southern cities in the ranking. Nearby locations such as Southampton rank 21st overall with a score of 30.61, while Brighton and Hove ranks 36th with 28.34.

At the opposite end of the table, Stockport takes the top position with a score of 40.67, followed by Harlow at 39.81 and Southend-on-Sea at 38.18. Milton Keynes and Ashford complete the top five.

The findings show that having a large number of charging points alone does not necessarily make a city one of the best places to own an EV. The study combines infrastructure with affordability, adoption, home charging access, repair availability and environmental performance to assess the wider ownership experience.

For Portsmouth, the results point to a mixed picture. The city has relatively strong charging infrastructure and repair support, but low EV uptake, weaker access to charging-enabled properties and high electricity costs drag down its overall position.

The research evaluated 56 UK cities and towns across six key factors. Charging points per 1,000 EVs carried the greatest weighting at 30%, while electricity costs, EVs per 10,000 people, properties with charging access and electric car repair shops per 1,000 EVs each accounted for 15%. Per-capita emissions made up the remaining 10%.