We’re On The Hunt For The World’s First Service Station Tester…

With the summer holidays in full swing and many families hitting the roads for a summer trip, many people will be stopping at one of the nation’s many service stations, which are used day and night by drivers all over the country. Providing respite, fuel and often a well-needed snack and toilet break, many drivers in the UK will have a favourite service station that they love to stop at on a long journey.

To find this out, we’ve analysed data from an EV database, as well as Google reviews for nearly 90 service stations across the country, looking at metrics including the number of EV chargers, the number of ‘check-ins’ per charger, the average review score from EV drivers, and the average Google review score from all drivers. These metrics were then analysed using an index scoring system to allocate each service station a score of out 100, thereby revealing the busiest and best serviced stations for EV drivers, and drivers overall.

In addition, to see if our data study accurately reflects the real experience of drivers visiting service stations this summer, we will also be hiring one lucky driver as a ‘Service Station Tester’. Interested? Find all the information for this dream job below.

The Top 25 Best Service Stations For EV Drivers

Reading’s M4 services follows closely in second place, with a total index score of 85, with Hilton Park services in Staffordshire completing the top three with 81 points overall. Rounding off the top five service stations are Exeter services on the M5 (scoring 79) and Heston services on the M4 in Greater London (scoring 77).

With three of its service stations ranking in the top five, and five within the top 25, the M4 is the best serviced motorway in the country, which should put any EV drivers’ minds at ease if traveling on the high-traffic corridor between London and Wales.

The longest motorway in the UK, the M6, featured five times in the top 25, with service stations including Hilton Park, Keele, Charnock Richard, Corley and Tebay ranking as some of the best reviewed rest points for those driving an electric vehicle.

Rank	Service station	Motorway	Region	No. of chargers	Check-ins per charger	Plugscore	Total score
1	Swansea	M4	Swansea	32	7	10.0	86
2	Reading	M4	Berkshire	64	10	8.7	85
3	Hilton Park	M6	Staffordshire	48	12	7.9	81
4	Exeter	M5	Devon	40	16	9.5	79
5	Heston	M4	Greater London	49	10	8.3	77
6	Grantham North	A1	Lincolnshire	38	27	9.8	77
7	Newport Pagnell	M1	Buckinghamshire	25	14	10.0	76
8	Washington	A1(M)	Tyne and Wear	27	9	10.0	75
9	Ferrybridge	M62	West Yorkshire	29	31	10.0	73
10	Hartshead Moor	M62	West Yorkshire	37	22	8.0	73
11	Michaelwood	M5	Gloucestershire	28	18	8.7	72
12	Warwick	M40	Warwickshire	27	33	9.6	72
13	Membury	M4	Berkshire	25	39	10.0	71
14	Keele	M6	Staffordshire	23	33	10.0	71
15	Hopwood Park	M42	Worcestershire	21	11	9.5	70
16	Oxford	M40	Oxfordshire	22	11	9.2	69
17	Leigh Delamere	M4	Wiltshire	30	15	9.0	68
18	Charnock Richard	M6	Lancashire	23	30	8.9	68
19	Abington	M74	South Lanarkshire	20	23	8.4	67
20	Severn View	M48	Gloucestershire	13	10	10.0	67
21	Blyth	A1(M)	Nottinghamshire	18	22	8.5	66
22	Woodall	M1	South Yorkshire	26	42	8.0	66
23	Corley	M6	Warwickshire	30	42	8.0	66
24	Tebay	M6	Cumbria	30	22	8.7	66
25	Cullompton	M5	Devon	9	12	10.0	64

The Top 25 Worst Service Stations For EV Drivers

At the other end of scale, we also wanted to reveal the worst equipped service stations for electric vehicle drivers. The M1’s Leicester Forest East ranked as the worst service station, with a score of just 35 out of 100. With a shockingly low Plugscore, and over 125 check-ins per 12 chargers available on average, the Leicestershire based station ranks as the worst of all stations analysed. Following behind in second and third place, each scoring just 38 out of 100 was Norton Canes service station, based on the M6 toll, and Bridgwater services, found on the M5, with the latter recording on average 126 check-ins per two chargers available.

The M1 and M5 were the lowest scoring motorways for EV drivers, with five service stations located on each motorway ranking in the top 25 worst stations, including the M5’s Taunton Deane (12^th position with a score of 49) and the M1’s London Gateway (24^th position with a score of 52).

Rank	Service station	Motorway	Region	No. of chargers	Check-ins per charger	Plugscore	Total score
1	Leicester Forest East	M1	Leicestershire	10	152	1.0	34
2	Norton Canes	M6 Toll	Staffordshire	6	61	2.6	38
3	Bridgwater	M5	Somerset	2	126	7.0	38
4	Northampton	M1	Northamptonshire	6	94	3.5	39
5	Peartree	A34	Oxfordshire	3	80	6.2	45
6	Skelton Lake	M1 J45	West Yorkshire	6	28	10.0	46
7	Chieveley	M4	Berkshire	5	134	10.0	46
8	Tamworth	M42	Staffordshire	4	96	6.7	46
9	Strensham	M5	Worcestershire	5	63	6.8	48
10	Taunton Deane	M5	Somerset	6	45	6.8	49
11	Knutsford	M6	Cheshire	12	42	6.0	49
12	Durham	A1(M)	County Durham	3	93	7.9	49
13	Baldock	A1(M)	Hertfordshire	10	31	8.2	50
14	Annandale Water	A74(M)	Dumfries and Galloway	3	68	7.9	50
15	South Mimms	M25	Hertfordshire	21	38	7.5	51
16	Frankley	M5	Worcestershire	6	76	8.2	51
17	Hamilton	M74	South Lanarkshire	3	35	7.9	51
18	Port Abraham	M4	Carmarthenshire	3	37	7.9	51
19	Stirling	M9 / M80	Stirling	4	51	8.3	51
20	Cobham	M25	Surrey	12	55	6.8	51
21	Magor	M4	Monmouthshire	3	79	8.9	52
22	Tibshelf	M1	Derbyshire	7	77	8.3	52
23	Peterborough	A1(M)	Cambridgeshire	10	52	10.0	52
24	Rownhams	M27	Hampshire	8	63	8.3	52
25	London Gateway	M1	Greater London	5	40	8.4	53

The Top 10 Busiest Service Stations for EV Drivers

Any EV driver will know how important it is to plan in regular stops on a long road trip, to charge your vehicle. With many drivers having to queue for significant lengths of time during peak travel periods, we wanted to find out which service stations you would most likely need to queue at in order to re-charge.

Doncaster North services on the M18 in South Yorkshire was revealed as the busiest service station for EVs, with 157 check-ins made for every charger – of which there are only four in total – at the site. Donington Park on the M1 doesn’t fair much better, with 141 check-ins per charger, with Chieveley on the M4 ranking in third with 134 check-ins for each of its 5 charging points.

Rank	Service station	Motorway	Region	No. of check-ins per charger
1	Doncaster North	M18	South Yorkshire	157
2	Donington Park	M1	Leicestershire	141
3	Chieveley	M4	Berkshire	134
4	Leicester Forest East	M1	Leicestershire	127
5	Bridgwater	M5	Somerset	126
6	Chester	M56	Cheshire	112
7	Tamworth	M42	Staffordshire	96
8	Northampton	M1	Northamptonshire	94
9	Durham	A1(M)	County Durham	93
10	Peartree	A34	Oxfordshire	80

The Best Reviewed Service Stations for All Drivers

Not every driver has made the move over to driving electric vehicles, and so in addition to EV provisions we also looked at Google review ratings for each service station, to reveal how each station is generally regarded amongst drivers.

Gloucester services is ranked as the best service station overall, scoring 4.5 out of 5. Famed for its sleek design and high-quality farm shop and food offerings, the service station has become a firm favourite of many drivers, particularly with those venturing south towards Devon and Cornwall. Its sister service station Tebay in Cumbria ranks in second place with a score of 4.4 – this station was the original service station in the Westmorland duo and was the first family-owned motorway stop in the country.

Baldock services on the A1(M), Beaconsfield and Oxford (both on the M40) follow behind, all tied with a score of 4.1.

Rank	Service station	Motorway	Region	Google review rating
1	Gloucester	M5	Gloucestershire	4.5
2	Tebay	M6	Cumbria	4.4
=3	Baldock	A1(M)	Hertfordshire	4.1
=3	Beaconsfield	M40	Buckinghamshire	4.1
=3	Oxford	M40	Oxfordshire	4.1
=4	Cambridge	A14	Cambridgeshire	4
=4	Cobham	M25	Surrey	4
=4	Killington Lake	M6	Cumbria	4
=4	Gretna Green	A74(M)	Dumfries and Galloway	4
=4	Fleet	M3	Hampshire	4

We’re Hiring For The World’s First Service Station Tester!

There are so many factors to consider when planning a stop on a long journey, from EV charger access to food options and facilities onsite. Hopefully our research will help you to plan the service station which best suits your journey and needs, but we want to find out whether our data matches up to real-life experiences at some of the country’s busiest and most-loved service stations.

JOB DESCRIPTION

If you love a pit stop at a service station while on a road trip, then this is what the job entails:

• £500 salary to cover fuel costs, snacks and other supplies
• Visit some of the nation’s best and busiest service stations
• Rate and review the service stations you visit and report back to us
• Enjoy!

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Must be able to get themselves to and from each service station
• Strong enthusiasm for service stations
• Must hold a full UK driving license

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for the Service Station Tester role have now closed. Winners were contacted the week commencing 2^nd October 2023.

Methodology

To find out the best and worst service stations for EVs, we created a long list of UK service stations through manual desk research. The average review of each service station was then taken from Google. Plugshare was then used to compile the number of chargers, number of plug types, PlugScore and number of check-ins for each service station. Where multiple sites were listed for each service station (for example – on the North and Southbound carriageways of a motorway), the number of plugs, plug types and check-ins was totalled across both sites, while the average PlugScore was calculated. These metrics were then analysed using an index scoring system to allocate each service station a score out of 100.