Does weather affect EV charging demand?
We spend a lot of time in the EV charging industry talking about EV adoption, charger numbers, utilisation and the pace at which public charging infrastructure needs to grow. One factor that receives far less attention is the weather, and what changing temperatures could mean for seasonal EV charging demand.
Most EV drivers will be familiar with the effect colder temperatures can have on vehicle range. An EV can require more energy to cover the same distance in winter than it would in milder conditions. What is discussed less often is what happens further down the line, and whether that change in efficiency has a measurable effect on the charging network itself.
Looking at our own operating data at The EV Network (EVN), there are signs of a seasonal pattern in both charging activity and energy demand. It raises an interesting question for the industry: as the UK’s EV parc (EV population) grows, should seasonality become a more established part of how we forecast and plan public charging infrastructure?
Cold weather doesn’t just affect range
There are several reasons EV efficiency can fall as temperatures drop. Batteries operate less efficiently in colder conditions, while heating the vehicle cabin and, increasingly, the battery itself requires additional energy. Research from the US Department of Energy shows that EVs are more sensitive to cold weather due in large part to the energy required for heating and the effect of lower temperatures on battery performance.
In practical terms, a vehicle making broadly the same journeys may require more electricity during colder weather. If it is consuming more kWh per mile, the driver may need to recharge sooner or, in some cases, spend longer charging. Across a large public network, even relatively small changes in individual vehicle efficiency have the potential to affect overall electricity demand.
Research from charging network FLO offers an interesting comparison. Looking at more than 2,000 public chargepoints, its analysis found that charging sessions during colder periods were around 14% longer, with vehicles consuming approximately 17% more energy per session. The significance is that we can see the impact not only in the vehicle, but at the charger too.
FLO carried out the research in Greater Montreal, where winter conditions are considerably colder than those typically experienced in the UK, so the figures aren’t directly comparable. They do, however, raise a relevant question for the UK market: to what extent does temperature influence charging behaviour here?
What are we seeing across our own network?
When we look at our own operating data, a seasonal pattern also begins to emerge. Both the amount of energy delivered and the number of charging sessions tend to increase during the winter months before falling back as temperatures improve.
There are several factors that could contribute to that pattern. EV adoption, traffic volumes, journey behaviour and charger availability all influence public charging demand, while the continued growth of both the UK EV parc and charging network makes direct year-on-year comparisons difficult.
However, when we look within individual years, the seasonal pattern remains. Demand builds through autumn, winter utilisation rises, and activity then softens through spring and summer before the cycle begins again.
Our data also suggests that some of the efficiency lost during colder weather could reappear as increased demand across the public charging network. We should therefore consider temperature as one potential part of a much broader picture. The opportunity is to understand whether it has a measurable relationship with charging behaviour alongside those wider factors.
Why does seasonality matter for infrastructure?
For charging infrastructure operators and investors, seasonality matters because infrastructure needs to perform reliably when demand is at its highest, not simply under average conditions.
If colder conditions contribute to changes in charging frequency or the amount of energy required during a session, the impact could extend across charger utilisation, grid capacity, energy procurement, site design, queuing and dwell time, maintenance and uptime requirements, revenue forecasting and future capacity planning.
Annual average utilisation remains a valuable measure of performance, but averages can smooth out periods of peak demand.
A site that performs comfortably on an average day in May could face a very different operational challenge during a busy winter travel period. Understanding the scale and causes of those peaks could therefore become increasingly important as utilisation across the network grows. Operators need to plan infrastructure around those periods of peak demand.
Understanding seasonal EV charging demand
Simply comparing December with July won’t tell us enough as too many variables change between the two.
A more useful next step is to examine the relationship between temperature and charger utilisation directly.
We could compare metrics such as kWh delivered per active charger per day, sessions per active charger per day and average kWh delivered per charging session against daily temperatures to see whether consistent patterns emerge.
- Do chargers deliver more energy when temperatures fall below 10°C?
- Does utilisation change again below 5°C?
- During a prolonged cold spell, how much additional network capacity might be required?
These are particularly relevant questions for the UK. We don’t experience the sustained extreme temperatures seen in parts of North America, so rather than applying international findings directly to our market, we need to understand what happens under the conditions British drivers and charging sites actually experience.
As charging networks build several years of operating history, real-world data should help us understand the relationship between weather and charging behaviour more precisely.
What if we looked at charging demand differently? A simplified view of charging demand might consider:
- EV parc × traffic × utilisation
But if changing temperatures affect vehicle efficiency and how much energy drivers need, should we be thinking more broadly?
- EV parc × traffic × vehicle efficiency × utilisation
Not a definitive formula, but a different way to think about what could be shaping demand across the network.
The Christmas charging peak offers another clue
National charging data points in the same direction. Zapmap reported that the busiest day for public EV charging in 2024 was 23 December, with more than 104,000 charging events. By comparison, the busiest summer travel day recorded around 67,000.
Temperature alone doesn’t explain that difference. Christmas travel patterns, growing EV adoption and the continued expansion of public charging infrastructure all play a role.
However, when considered alongside charger-level data and what we know about EV efficiency in colder weather, it reinforces an important point: public EV charging demand isn’t constant throughout the year.
As the UK’s EV parc grows, understanding these seasonal peaks will become increasingly important for how we plan, operate and invest in charging infrastructure.
Is winter becoming a stress test for public charging?
The EV charging sector is moving from a period focused heavily on infrastructure deployment towards one where optimisation will become increasingly important.
Installing more chargers remains essential. But as utilisation increases, we also need to understand when demand occurs, how much energy drivers require and what causes those patterns to change.
Winter could provide one of the clearest tests of that. If temperature proves to be a meaningful variable, even a relatively modest seasonal effect could become significant as the number of EVs using the public charging network increases.
The industry has spent years planning for EV growth. As the market matures, it may also be time to start planning for the seasons.
What this means for EVN and future builds
For EVN, the opportunity is to turn what we learn from operating charging infrastructure into better decisions about the infrastructure we develop next.
Our role across the full lifecycle gives us visibility from site assessment and design through to delivery and long-term operation. As our operational portfolio grows, so does the real-world data available to understand how different sites perform, which creates a valuable feedback loop.
Insights from live sites can help inform decisions made much earlier in the development process, from power requirements and charger numbers to site layout, design and the potential for future expansion.
As the UK’s charging network matures, the challenge will increasingly move beyond identifying where to develop infrastructure. We will also need to understand how much capacity we need, when we need it and what factors are driving that demand.
Understanding seasonal EV charging demand will be an important part of planning infrastructure that can perform when demand is at its highest.
Planning EV charging infrastructure for long-term demand?
From site assessment and design through to delivery and operation, EVN takes a data-led approach to developing charging infrastructure built for both current and future demand.
Speak to our experts about your next EV charging project.
Share
Delivering fast, scalable EV charging infrastructure across the UK, Europe and USA. Contact us today to see how can we help
