PureCar charging map audit: 12 of 26 “Antrim” listings carry postcodes outside BT41

Nearly half the records on PureCar's EV charging page labelled Antrim carry postcodes outside the BT41 area, while seven of the 26 listed locations lack recorded power, operator and connector details. The findings raise a more useful question than how many pins appear on a map: how many of those records give a motorist the information needed to plan a charging stop?

PureCar's Northern Ireland EV charging directory displays 472 matching locations arranged across 99 searchable town areas. Drivers can filter by power rating, look for connectors and open individual station records.

The site also carries a warning that should not be overlooked: pins identify recorded locations, not live availability, and users should confirm operation and access before travelling. That is a fundamental distinction for somebody who needs electricity to complete a journey.

An individual entry may help locate a possible charging stop while still failing to establish whether the equipment is working, whether its connector is suitable, whether it is occupied or whether the charging service can be used without a particular account.

How the Antrim sample was checked

The examination covered the 26 location entries displayed on PureCar's publicly accessible Antrim charging page on 30 October 2026. Each published postcode was checked against the BT41 prefix normally associated with Antrim town. Of those 26 listings, 14 carried BT41 postcodes and 12 had other prefixes.

The 12 non-BT41 records included BT8, BT11, BT17, BT36, BT39, BT42, BT44, BT53 and BT1 postcode areas. These are examples of differently labelled records in the same consumer-facing town list, not proof of a defect in the underlying physical charging station or its map coordinates.

A second check looked for three fields directly relevant to planning a session: charging power, operator and connector type. Seven entries presented the charging power as unknown and the operator and connectors as not recorded. That is around 27% of this single page's listings.

This is a targeted 26-entry audit, not a representative statistical survey of the entire Northern Ireland charging network. No site visits or live-uptime checks were carried out. But every counted omission is visible in the public listing, and the exercise shows why a headline area count deserves scrutiny before motorists rely on it.

What a listed location actually proves

In the Antrim section of the directory, some entries include an operator name, connector type and power rating. The Dunsilly Hotel record, for example, identifies Weev and a charging provision shown at 120kW. The Junction identifies Fastned and equipment advertised at 400kW. These details allow a motorist to make an initial judgement about technical suitability.

Other records are far less complete. DRD Carpark Galgorm Village and DRD Park and Ride Templepatrick are shown with charging power unknown, operator not recorded and connectors not recorded. Similar omissions occur elsewhere in the directory.

A blank field is not evidence of a broken charger. It is evidence that the listing does not contain the information a driver would need to assess compatibility or likely charging time. Without connector data, somebody looking for a CCS rapid connection cannot know whether the entry will meet their needs. Without power information, a driver cannot sensibly estimate the time needed for a stop.

These are not obscure technical distinctions. The gap between a slower AC destination unit and a high-powered DC rapid charger can amount to hours when replenishing a substantial amount of energy, depending on the car. A map that treats both as ordinary nearby pins without adequate information is less useful for actual journey planning.

A wrong area grouping can send a driver much farther than expected

Consider three of the specific records. Cairns Hill Park and Ride is shown in the Antrim list with a BT8 postcode, which is associated with the south-east Belfast area. Sainsbury's Car Park appears with BT11, associated with west Belfast. Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre is recorded under BT53, the Ballymoney area.

The published list supplies names, postcodes and charging descriptions; it does not establish that anyone has followed one of those entries to the wrong place. The concern is about search relevance. A person opening a page headed 'EV Charging Points in Antrim' could reasonably expect entries near the town, yet these examples are not ordinary BT41 Antrim addresses.

BT41 is a practical screening prefix for this audit, not a legally precise town boundary. Some genuinely useful stations outside BT41 may serve Antrim drivers, while BT41 itself does not provide a complete definition of local journeys. Nonetheless, treating all 26 records as physically located within the town would be wrong. The problem is sufficiently concrete to check and correct the area-grouping process.

The same issue has consequences for data journalism. A misplaced town label can inflate a local directory count and distort comparisons made from it. It is not acceptable to turn a customer-facing search page into a council ranking without resolving the mismatch between postcode, town, mapped coordinates and administrative boundary.

Why 472 cannot be subtracted from 1,156

A different apparent discrepancy emerges when PureCar's directory is compared with the Department for Transport's official data. The website shows 472 recorded locations, while the government's July 2026 statistics recorded 1,156 publicly available chargers across Northern Ireland.

It would be a serious mistake to claim that the difference represents 684 missing sites. The two figures measure different objects and come from different data collection systems.

A charging location may contain more than one charger. Fastned's Junction installation alone advertises six charging spots at one retail destination. Official statistics now count electric vehicle supply equipment able to serve vehicles, while a location directory is organised around places where charging has been reported.

The government's statistical method also changed as the EVSE-based series became the primary measure in 2026. Comparisons with older device totals need particular care. A directory count, a count of physical charging boxes, a count of connectors and a count of vehicles that can charge are all potentially different numbers.

None can be exchanged for another without a common definition. This matters because discussions of progress can easily slide from 'new locations' to 'new chargers' to 'available spaces' as though they all mean the same thing.

A legal reliability standard is not a guarantee on arrival

Public charging operators across the UK are subject to consumer-protection requirements introduced under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023. They include rules on pricing, specified payment arrangements, data provision, helplines and a reliability standard applying to rapid charging networks.

The reliability requirement is 99% on average across an operator's relevant rapid network over a calendar year. It is not a promise that every individual unit will function for 99% of every day or that a charger marked as available will remain unoccupied until a particular motorist arrives.

The government also requires specified reference and availability data to be provided using the Open Charge Point Interface format. That is designed to make accurate information more accessible to consumers and the services they use.

A third-party directory missing a connector field does not, by itself, show that the operator has broken the law. Compliance depends on which obligations apply and whether the operator has supplied the required information through the prescribed channels. Similarly, without operational records, the number of equipment failures at any named charging location cannot responsibly be asserted.

The difference between a legal network-average performance standard and real-time driver experience is substantial. Someone arriving at a faulty charger is not helped immediately by knowing the operator has met an annual percentage across its wider network.

The regulations extend to Northern Ireland. They require covered operators to provide specified reference and availability information under the Open Charge Point Interface standard, but that does not automatically update every community-sourced directory. A directory still has to validate the address, associate the record with the correct town and distinguish a live operator status from older stored information.

Which information makes a pin genuinely useful?

A dependable charging listing has to answer more than 'where?'. The location and access arrangements come first. The driver then needs the connector type, actual usable charging power, payment options and the price expected for the relevant session. Information on whether the unit is operational and occupied can be critical when alternatives are distant.

The stakes differ from journey to journey. Somebody visiting a shopping centre may be content to charge slowly while parked for several hours. A driver with limited battery range who is trying to reach a rural destination needs much more certainty. A person with no home charging might need to know whether local equipment is reliably accessible every evening.

Not every information gap requires the same solution. Incorrect town grouping calls for better address and geographical validation. Missing connectors and power need stronger technical records. Outdated equipment status needs a genuinely current operating feed. A count of map pins cannot substitute for any of these improvements.

There is also a responsibility on information providers not to present community records as real-time operational facts. A static location record has value, but only when its limitations are unmistakable and users can distinguish verified details from unknown ones.

The next measure of progress is information drivers can trust

Northern Ireland's official July 2026 rate was 60 public chargers per 100,000 residents, compared with 174.9 across the UK. With fewer recorded public chargers relative to population, knowing which alternative will actually work becomes especially relevant when planning travel.

The PureCar directory is evidence of substantial mapped coverage. It is not a survey proving that all the equipment is functioning or failing. Its missing fields and mixed area grouping demonstrate a different problem: the information attached to a charger location can be too incomplete to serve as a dependable planning tool.

Adding more hardware remains important. But a network cannot be judged solely by a growing number of pins on a screen. A more useful test is whether motorists can find a suitable, accessible, correctly located and genuinely available connection before their battery runs low.

The Antrim sample leaves two directly checkable tasks: explain or correct the 12 listings outside the BT41 postcode area, and fill or clearly flag the seven records missing essential charger details. Until then, the number beside a town name is best understood as a directory count — not a promise that every station listed is nearby, compatible or working.