British electric charger companies are asking rivals to buy them as they run out of cash amid rising costs and intense competition, according to industry bosses.
Investors rushed to pour money into green technologies and the electric car industry during the pandemic, fuelled by cheap borrowing. Yet now with intense competition, rising costs, and delays to government funding, some charger companies are running short of cash and investors are looking for a return on their investments, according to several people in the industry.
The number of chargers installed in the UK has soared in recent years as companies raced to win market share. There were nearly 88,000 charge points across 45,000 UK locations at the end of 2025, according to the data company Zapmap.
Many charge point operators are making money, but others have installed points in anticipation of future demand, meaning they do not yet earn enough to cover costs, even if they are likely to as the number of electric cars on British roads rises rapidly.
Businesses could be keen to complete takeovers in an attempt to gain economies of scale including the same number of back office staff overseeing more charge points, the ability to negotiate bigger, cheaper nationwide contracts, and buying power in bulk.
The oil company Shell owns the biggest UK network, followed by the government-backed Connected Kerb and the EDF-owned Pod Point. However, there are a host of other competitors, ranging from Sainsbury’s supermarkets, fossil fuel companies such as BP and Total, the Scottish car retailer Arnold Clark, and the carmakers BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, which back the Ionity network.
The competition has forced smaller players to look for niches where they can find profits. Be. EV, with 2,500 chargers, is focusing on ultra-rapid charging at busy destinations such as retail parks and coffee shops. The company, which is backed with £110m from Octopus Energy, is also pursuing its own acquisitions of smaller players. Voltempo installs charge points at lorry depots, whose owners have a predictable source of demand and the ability to hire out their chargers to other users such as van fleets.
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