Businesses without EV chargers are missing out on customers

September 7, 2026

As more drivers switch to electric vehicles, EV charging availability is increasingly influencing where people choose to shop, eat, stay and spend their leisure time. For businesses without chargers, this behavioural shift creates a growing risk: customers who might once have stopped are increasingly likely to choose somewhere else that lets them charge at the same time.

In this insights post, we examine how EV charging can help landlords attract new customers, increase dwell time and make their businesses more appealing to the UK’s rapidly growing population of EV drivers.

For years, EV charging has been treated by many businesses as an optional extra: useful to have, perhaps, but hardly something that would determine whether a customer walked through the door. The ever-growing number of EVs on our roads mean that assumption is becoming increasingly expensive.

For landlords and destination businesses, the commercial question is no longer just whether installing chargers might bring additional benefits but, rather, whether not having chargers risks sending customers somewhere else.

A growing cohort of customers

The potential customer base is expanding quickly. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported that 43,106 new battery electric cars were registered in the UK in July 2026. That represented 27.5% of all new car registrations during the month and a 44.5% increase compared with July last year.

With those numbers, these drivers are clearly not just some niche group of early adopters making specialist journeys. They are regular people commuting to work, meeting friends, visiting attractions, eating out and doing the weekly shop.

And, increasingly, they are incorporating charging into those everyday journeys. The Department for Transport’s research found that 24% of EV drivers use chargers in a business or organisation’s car park at least once a week. A further 17% do so once or twice a month.

If you’re a business owner hoping to attract customers, those figures will be difficult to ignore.

Charging is part of the driver’s decision

Businesses would be wrong to think that drivers will go to one place to charge and another place to stop for a break. The same Department for Transport research found that 19% of EV drivers ‘always’ use third-party apps to help decide when and where they will charge, while another 44% use them ‘sometimes’. That has significant implications for businesses.

A pub, hotel, garden centre, farm shop, gym or retail park with reliable public charging will appear on a driver’s charging map before they have even decided precisely where they are going to stop. Every time this happens, the charger is no longer simply serving somebody who was going to visit that destination anyway. It is now part of the reason they choose that destination in the first place.

As EV charging becomes part of normal journey planning, businesses which offer it are giving customers another reason to choose them instead of their alternatives down the road.

Transforming charging time into customer time

Attracting the customer is only half of the opportunity. EV charging creates customer dwell time and few customers are likely to do nothing more than stand next to their car while it charges. Instead, they’ll have lunch, do some shopping, use a leisure facility, or sit down for a coffee and a snack.

Every single one of these options, and many more besides, demonstrates the enormous potential commercial value to businesses of having EV chargers.

Early-moving businesses have the greatest opportunity. Imagine a driver who completes the same journey every few weeks to see a family member. They’ve just made the switch to an EV and want somewhere to stop and grab a coffee and snack on the way. The first time they make the trip in their EV, they look at their aggregator app and your business pops up as having rapid charges available. Most likely, you’ve now earned that customer’s attention every single time they make that journey for years to come – and that type of relationship is invaluable to a business.

Making your car park work for you

For destination landlords, much of the opportunity already exists within an asset they own: a car park.

Zapgo installs rapid and reliable public charging infrastructure at zero upfront cost to our landlord partners. We manage the planning and construction process, and continue to operate, monitor and maintain the chargers. Our Partners also receive a revenue share from every charging session from day one.

Combined with the wider commercial benefit: attracting visitors, increasing dwell time, and giving customers another practical reason to return, installing chargers at your business is swiftly becoming simply common sense.

Businesses that recognise this shift now can position themselves to benefit from a rapidly growing pool of customers. Those that overlook it may increasingly find those customers charging and spending somewhere else.

“Businesses which offer EV charging are giving customers another reason to choose them instead of their alternatives down the road.”