EV charging providers don’t seem to have gotten the memo about the demise of EVs—they’ve been deploying new chargers in record numbers in the US and Europe. Retail chains also seem to be ignoring the steady drumbeat of doom—Walmart, Kroger, Wawa and others are planning to open thousands of new charging locations over the next few years.
However, EV charging provider ChargePoint predicts that even these numbers of public chargers won’t be adequate. The company has revealed data insights from more than 100 million EV charging sessions enabled in the last year. This data, combined with 2025 EV sales figures, suggests that the availability of public charging infrastructure is not keeping up with driver demand.
ChargePoint’s data shows notable growth in both charging port expansion and utilization across its network, and indicates that the number of EVs on the road is growing faster than the volume of public charging infrastructure needed to support them.
“ChargePoint believes we have entered the next phase of EV adoption,” said CEO Rick Wilmer. “Nearly 60% of the 19.3 billion electric miles we’ve enabled in nearly 18 years took place over the most recent two years. New EV sales are no longer the primary benchmark for charger demand, it is the total number of EVs on the road. Those installing chargers in 2026 should see accelerated ROI because of this utilization pressure.”
ChargePoint cites auto industry data showing that global EV sales increased 20% in 2025. Whether charging demand is evaluated by volume or utilization, the data shows that the number of charging sessions is outpacing new charger installations. In 2025, the volume of charging sessions increased by 34%, despite a much smaller increase in the number of vehicles on the road. Even as 190,000 more charging ports became available to drivers on the ChargePoint network, charger utilization still outpaced the growth of new ports by almost 20%. This bottleneck may get worse in 2026 unless the rate of charger installation increases, the company says.
Source: ChargePoint
