Electric vehicle charging at Gatwick

Charging is available in the airport car parks, but leaving an EV for a fortnight raises questions a petrol car never does.

Last reviewed 6 September 2026. Prices and car park rules change often — confirm the current details before you travel.

Leaving an electric car at an airport for two weeks raises a question that never comes up with a petrol one: what state will it be in when you get back, and can you get home?

Charging provision at the airport

Gatwick provides electric vehicle charging in its car parks. Provision has been expanding over time, and the number of bays, the connector types and the charging speeds vary between car parks.

Because this is a moving target, the sensible approach is to check current availability for the specific car park you are booking, close to your travel date, rather than relying on what was true previously. Do not build a plan that depends on a charger being free at the moment you arrive.

Charging bays are not parking bays

This is the most common misunderstanding. A charging bay is provided so cars can charge. It is not somewhere to store a car for a fortnight.

Most operators expect you to move the vehicle once it has charged, and many enforce this with overstay charges. Occupying a charge point for two weeks blocks it for everyone else, and it is generally not permitted by the terms you agree to when you book.

So if you want to arrive on a low battery and charge before flying, plan to charge and then move to an ordinary bay — which means arriving early enough to do both, on top of everything else you were already allowing time for.

Should you charge before you fly or when you get back?

For most people the simpler plan is to arrive with enough charge to get home again, and not to rely on airport charging at all.

Reasons this usually works better:

• It removes a dependency on a specific bay being free at a specific time.
• It removes the extra step of charging and then relocating the car.
• Batteries are generally happier being stored at a moderate state of charge than at 100%.
• You come back to a car you can simply get into and drive.

If the journey to the airport uses most of your range, plan a charging stop on the way in rather than at the airport itself. Public chargers on the approach roads and motorway services are designed for exactly this and are not competing with departing passengers.

Charge loss while parked

An EV left standing loses a small amount of charge over time to standby systems, and cold weather increases both the loss and the apparent range reduction when you set off.

Over a fortnight the loss is normally modest rather than alarming, but it is real. The practical implication is simply to leave more margin than you think you need — enough to reach a charger comfortably on the way home, in winter, without anxiety after a long flight.

Where the vehicle offers it, disabling features that keep systems awake — remote monitoring, sentry-style modes, scheduled preconditioning — will reduce the drain noticeably.

Off-airport operators

Independent car parks around Gatwick vary widely in whether they offer charging at all. Some do, some do not, and some advertise it without the bays being reliably available.

If charging matters to you, treat it as a specific thing to confirm with the operator rather than an assumed amenity — and be particularly careful where the operator parks the car for you, since you will not be able to plug in yourself.

Practical checklist

• Arrive with enough range to get home, and treat airport charging as a bonus.
• Check current charging provision for your specific car park before you travel.
• Do not leave the car occupying a charge point for the trip.
• Turn off battery-draining standby features where you can.
• Plan a charging stop on the route rather than at the airport if range is tight.
• In winter, allow more margin than the summer figures suggest.