The number of electric vehicles on UK roads is growing fast. In 2025, more than one in five new cars sold was electric or plug-in hybrid. Your guests are increasingly arriving in vehicles that need charging overnight, and that changes what they expect from a campsite. EV charging is no longer a luxury add-on. For a growing number of guests, it is a deciding factor when choosing where to stay. This guide covers everything you need to make a sensible decision about adding EV charging to your site.

Do You Actually Need EV Charging?

This is the first question worth asking honestly. Not every campsite needs to rush out and install chargers right now. A lot depends on your guest profile and the type of site you run.

Touring sites that attract motorhomes and caravans will see EV uptake differently from tent-only campsites. Most motorhomes are still diesel-powered, but that is changing. Electric motorhomes are starting to appear on UK roads, and the number of hybrid motorhomes is climbing. Meanwhile, many guests arriving by car to a tent pitch or glamping pod are already driving EVs.

For CL and CS site owners, the EV question tends to surface in guest reviews. If guests mention struggling to charge nearby, that feedback is worth taking seriously. If nobody has raised it yet, you may have a year or two before it becomes pressing.

The honest answer is that within five years, EV charging will be as expected as electric hook-up points are today. Getting ahead of that now means you are set up before your competitors, and eligible for grants that may not be around forever.

Types of EV Charger for Campsites

EV chargers fall into three main categories. Understanding the differences helps you decide what is right for your site.

3kW slow chargers (standard socket). A standard 13-amp household socket delivers around 3kW of charge. This is the slowest option. Overnight, it adds roughly 15 to 20 miles of range. For a guest staying two or three nights, it can get them home, but it is not suitable as a primary EV charging solution.

7kW fast chargers. This is the most practical option for most campsites. A 7kW charge point adds around 30 to 40 miles of range per hour. Overnight, guests can add 200 to 300 miles. Most modern EVs charge at 7kW or higher from AC charge points. This is the sensible choice for overnight stays and the format you will see most often at hotels, holiday parks and leisure facilities across the UK.

22kW or rapid chargers. These deliver faster charge rates but cost significantly more to install and require a three-phase power supply. For most campsites, a rapid charger is unnecessary. Guests staying overnight do not need rapid charging, and the installation cost rarely makes commercial sense for a small or medium site. Unless you are a large touring park with genuine commercial demand, 7kW is the right answer.

Costs and the OZEV Grant Scheme

Hardware and installation costs vary depending on your site and the number of charge points you want.

A single 7kW tethered charge point from a reputable UK supplier (Pod Point, OHME, Hypervolt or Zappi) costs between £600 and £1,000 for the unit itself. Installation typically adds another £500 to £1,000 depending on how far the unit sits from your consumer unit and what groundworks are needed. So a single installed charge point will typically cost between £1,100 and £2,000 all in.

The good news is that the government's Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS), administered by OZEV (the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles), covers 75% of the purchase and installation cost of EV charge points for eligible businesses, up to £350 per socket and a maximum of 40 sockets. Campsites are eligible as businesses.

This can make a real difference to your upfront outlay. A £1,500 installed charger becomes around £375 after the grant. Apply before you spend anything. Most reputable installers will handle the grant paperwork on your behalf as part of the job.

Where to Install Chargers on Your Site

Location matters more than people expect. A few things worth thinking through before you commit:

How to Charge Guests for EV Charging

This is where many campsite owners get stuck. You have a few options, and the right one depends on your site and how much admin you want to take on.

Include it in the pitch price. The simplest approach. Add a modest uplift to pitches that have a charge point and market them as EV-ready. You absorb the electricity cost, but you avoid any complexity around metering. For most small sites, this is perfectly sensible.

Charge a flat session fee. A flat overnight fee of £5 to £8 covers most guests' electricity costs and is easy to add at the time of booking. The risk is that a guest with a large battery (a Kia EV6 or Tesla Model 3 Long Range, for example) arrives nearly empty and draws 50 to 60 kWh overnight, which costs you £18 to £27 at commercial electricity rates.

Charge per kilowatt-hour. This is the fairest option if some guests barely touch the charger and others drain it fully every night. You need a smart charge point with metering capability, which most modern units have. Guests pay via an app or QR code. Expect to charge around 35 to 45p per kWh. The downside is a slightly more technical setup, and some guests find app-based payments fiddly.

For most sites starting out, a flat session fee collected at booking is the most practical option. It is transparent, easy to explain, and avoids the need for smart metering from day one.

Can Guests Use Standard Electric Hook-Up Points?

Many campsite owners ask whether guests can simply use the 16-amp EHU pitch point to charge their EV. Technically, most EVs come with a Mode 2 cable that connects to a standard socket, and some owners assume the 16-amp CEE pitch socket works fine as a makeshift charger.

The reality is more nuanced. EHU pitch points are designed for campsite use, with varying cable quality and connection integrity across different installations. The Caravan and Motorhome Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club both advise caution about overnight EV charging via standard EHU points, primarily because of the sustained load over many hours and the quality of connections at older pitches.

A dedicated charge point is safer, more reliable, and better for your liability position. It is also a cleaner experience for guests, who connect with a standard Type 2 EV cable rather than an adaptor and extension daisy-chain.

That said, if a guest wants to use their own Mode 2 cable with a 13-amp adaptor at a standard socket, that is their choice. Many do, and most of the time it works without incident. Just do not actively market this as your EV solution.

Managing EV Charging as Part of Your Bookings

Once you have charge points in place, the next step is making sure guests can find and book EV-ready pitches easily. A well-run site marks EV pitches separately so guests can see availability and book the right pitch from the start.

Your pre-arrival message is a good place to explain how charging works: where the charge point is located, how to start a session, what cable type is needed, and who to contact if there is a problem. Sending this automatically means guests arrive prepared rather than confused and hunting around in the dark for a charger.

If you are still managing bookings manually, setting up EV as a distinct pitch type in booking software like CampSuite takes about fifteen minutes. You can track which pitches have chargers, apply the right rate at booking, and send guests the correct instructions before they arrive. None of it requires any technical knowledge. It just works.

The Bigger Picture

EV charging is not just an amenity. It is increasingly a reason guests choose one site over another. As electric vehicle ownership climbs past 20%, 30% and eventually 40% of new car sales, the campsite that cannot charge a guest's car loses bookings to the one that can.

The infrastructure is not expensive to get right at small scale. Grants are available to offset a significant portion of the cost. And the guest experience benefit starts from day one.

Start with one or two 7kW charge points at your most popular pitches. Apply for the OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme grant before you spend anything. Make EV-ready pitches visible and bookable on your site. And make sure guests receive clear charging instructions before they arrive.

If you want to manage EV pitches, collect a charging fee at booking and automatically send guests the right information before they arrive, try CampSuite free. It is free for CL and CS sites, no card required, and the whole setup takes about fifteen minutes.