Derry and Strabane posts NI’s sharpest EV charger rise — yet remains last

By one measure, Derry City and Strabane was Northern Ireland's fastest-improving area for public electric vehicle charging in the first half of 2026. By another, it was the worst-served. Both findings emerge from the same government figures, and neither can be ignored.

Department for Transport figures presented by the Office for National Statistics show 36.1 publicly available chargers per 100,000 residents in the council area in January. By July the rate had reached 44.0 — an increase of 21.9% in six months.

The result looks encouraging in isolation. Against the rest of Northern Ireland, it tells a more complicated story. Belfast stood at 77.5 chargers per 100,000 residents in July and the Northern Ireland average was 60.0. Derry and Strabane remained behind every other council despite improving at the strongest percentage rate.

For an authority stretching from the city into smaller communities and rural areas, the figures raise a question that the overall increase does not answer: how much new recorded provision has become genuinely useful to people making everyday journeys?

Most of the gain appeared between April and July

The quarterly series exposes the timing of the improvement. Derry and Strabane increased from 36.1 in January to 37.4 in April, a rise of 1.3 chargers per 100,000 residents. By July it had climbed a further 6.6 to 44.0.

In other words, most of the recorded six-month increase occurred in the latter three months. The rate rose approximately 3.6% between January and April, followed by about 17.6% between April and July. Those percentages are calculations from the published rates, not a claim about the number of charging sites opened in either quarter.

That is an important distinction in charging statistics. Operators supply records that are subsequently collated and checked. A new installation may affect the count, but so can a correction to an earlier entry or a change in the way equipment is reported. Without a site-by-site change log it would be misleading to say that every movement in the official rate represents newly built hardware.

The improvement is real as a change in the published measure. The precise mix of installations, reclassifications and record updates behind it is not shown by the headline series.

The growth has narrowed one gap more than another

Look beyond the percentage headline and the change can be measured in a different way. Northern Ireland averaged 57.5 public chargers per 100,000 people in January 2026; Derry and Strabane stood at 36.1. The district therefore started the year 21.4 below the regional rate.

By July the Northern Ireland average had reached 60.0 and Derry and Strabane 44.0. The gap had narrowed to 16.0 per 100,000. That is a reduction of 5.4 in the gap over six months: real movement towards the regional average, even if it was not enough to change the council's rank.

The comparison with Belfast moved less. In January, Belfast was at 71.5 against Derry and Strabane's 36.1, a gap of 35.4 per 100,000. By July the difference was 33.5. In other words, a 21.9% local improvement reduced the distance to Belfast by only 1.9 chargers per 100,000 residents.

Those are two legitimate descriptions of progress. Derry and Strabane was catching up with Northern Ireland's overall average, but the gap with the capital remained stubborn. That is why council league tables need both the starting position and the size of the change rather than a single celebratory percentage.

The gap with Belfast is still sizeable

Belfast's July rate of 77.5 was 33.5 chargers per 100,000 residents higher than Derry and Strabane's 44.0. Put another way, the capital had roughly 76% more recorded public chargers relative to population.

Belfast itself was not standing still. Its rate increased from 71.5 in January to 77.5 in July, growth of approximately 8.4%. Derry and Strabane improved more quickly in percentage terms, but a low starting point makes large percentage increases easier to achieve without overtaking an area with established infrastructure.

The difference is visible elsewhere in the council table. Ards and North Down climbed from 42.9 to 49.0 over the same period. Newry, Mourne and Down reached 55.7 by July, while Mid Ulster stood at 52.4. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon recorded 46.3.

Each remained above Derry and Strabane. The area was also 16.0 chargers per 100,000 people below the Northern Ireland rate. That gap matters because a short period of rapid growth can sound more transformative than it is when the underlying comparison is omitted.

The opposite can happen, too. Antrim and Newtownabbey recorded 65.5 in July, down from 69.5 in January. Its published rate fell, but remained substantially above Derry and Strabane. A falling figure should not automatically be described as the physical removal of chargers without checking operator records.

Other councils show why percentages are not the whole story

Ards and North Down improved from 42.9 to 49.0 per 100,000 between January and July, an increase of 14.2%. Belfast rose 8.4%. The percentage changes were slower than Derry and Strabane's, but both finished with higher recorded coverage.

Antrim and Newtownabbey travelled in the opposite direction, falling from 69.5 to 65.5. Even after that reduction it remained more than 21 chargers per 100,000 residents ahead of Derry and Strabane. It would be inaccurate to say this proves a particular charger was dismantled: the official release warns about changes to operators' recorded data as well as changes in the network itself.

The contrast is a useful warning for policymakers. A district can improve rapidly without escaping the bottom of the table. Another can see a decline in its published rate while remaining materially better provided. Public discussion that treats growth rankings as proof of an adequate network misses the question residents are most likely to ask: what charging is actually available nearby?

A city figure cannot describe every community

A council-wide rate is useful for identifying relative provision, but it is a blunt tool for determining whether residents are well served. The Derry City and Strabane boundary includes areas with very different population densities, routes and parking patterns.

Several high-powered chargers at a busy destination may make a significant difference to through-traffic while providing little help to someone who needs overnight charging near a home without a driveway. Conversely, a modest number of slower public units placed close to residential streets could make electric ownership more feasible even if they have less dramatic power ratings.

Travel also crosses council boundaries. People living in one district may charge at work, visit family or travel to a hospital in another. Residents do not experience infrastructure only where their home address sits within official boundaries.

This helps explain why low charger provision per resident should not be turned into a claim that every driver in Derry and Strabane faces the same inconvenience. It identifies a structural difference, not a direct measure of queueing, working-time loss or an individual's risk of being stranded.

There are also potential differences in the kinds of charger available. A 7kW connection, a 22kW destination unit and a 150kW rapid charger are all counted in overall provision, yet have substantially different usefulness for a short stop. A serious comparison of networks needs to consider the balance between these types as well as the headline rate.

What the public directory can and cannot add

PureCar's EV charging directory currently shows 19 recorded charging locations under the Derry town grouping. The listings include lower-powered destination facilities and higher-powered connections, including a recorded 150kW CCS location at Rossdowney.

Those 19 entries are not the official Derry City and Strabane council total. The directory groups records by town labels and reports locations, whereas the government publishes chargers under defined council boundaries. One site can also contain multiple chargers. Treating the numbers as equivalent would produce a false comparison.

The directory offers a closer look at what a motorist might search for, but it does not provide guaranteed live operating status. A charger appearing on a map does not demonstrate that the connector is free, functional and accessible at the moment a driver arrives. The difference between recorded equipment and usable equipment is particularly important in places with fewer alternatives.

The geographical distribution within the district also matters. More public chargers clustered near central Derry would not necessarily solve charging needs elsewhere around Strabane or the wider rural road network. The available headline statistics do not tell us whether the new recorded growth reached the areas with the greatest unmet demand.

Derry town listings and Strabane listings are not a council census

PureCar's own location pages make the geographical problem visible. The charging directory groups 19 recorded locations under Derry and eight under Strabane. Those are town-labelled records and not a verified inventory of the full Derry City and Strabane council area.

The figure for Derry cannot be added to the Strabane count and then compared with the official council rate as though the sources used the same geographical boundaries and the same unit. One directory entry may contain multiple charge points; some locations may have incomplete or outdated information; and town-grouping depends on the source records used.

That limitation has a practical counterpart. A resident travelling from Strabane does not benefit equally from every charger in Derry city. Nor can a tourist planning a journey between the two places assume that a town directory is a real-time guide to working connections. To establish whether the district's improvement has reached neglected communities would require an installation-level audit, not an extrapolation from two page counters.

The July council series establishes a firm statistical finding. The distribution of that provision across neighbourhoods, roads and villages remains the unanswered local question — and it is the one that determines whether the recorded improvement is felt beyond the headline.

What would count as closing the gap?

A meaningful improvement would be demonstrated not simply by another percentage increase but by a narrowing of the difference from other Northern Ireland areas, particularly when combined with evidence about accessibility, price and reliability. A rising rate is valuable. Rising from last place to a position nearer the regional average would be more persuasive.

There is room for a more targeted assessment of the district's network: identifying where residential streets lack workable charging, what provision exists on major routes, how many connections serve each location and whether drivers can use chargers without subscribing to a particular service.

Those are practical questions rather than abstract measures of progress. A resident considering an electric car must know whether charging can fit their routine. Someone operating a delivery vehicle wants dependable access at predictable times. A visitor needs information about a suitable connection before reaching the destination.

Derry and Strabane's rise from 36.1 to 44.0 chargers per 100,000 residents is the largest proportional improvement among Northern Ireland's councils in the January-to-July figures. The finding deserves recognition — but also perspective.

Over six months the council reduced its deficit against the Northern Ireland average from 21.4 to 16.0 chargers per 100,000 residents. That is measurable progress. It is also a reminder of how much distance there is still to cover: the fastest-improving district in Northern Ireland ended the latest comparable council snapshot below all ten of its neighbours.