£ 20 million more for electric car chargers on the road – but roll-out needs to be accelerated

The government will provide an additional £ 20 million to local authorities in the UK to strengthen their electric car charging infrastructure.

The cash injection provides for curbs to be installed in cities so that “residents without a private parking space can reliably charge their vehicles,” said the transport ministry’s announcement this morning.

However, a report, also released on Tuesday morning, warned MPs that charging stations would have to be introduced five times faster than currently to break the ban on sales of new gasoline and diesel cars in 2030.

Around 40 percent of Britons do not have access to off-street parking, which is seen as one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption in the next decade.

Ministers recognized the problem and launched an On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme in late 2016 as part of a broader plan to pump £ 1.3 billion into the country’s charging infrastructure over the next four years.

Taxpayers’ money is made available through the system to authorities who can claim a portion of the cash based on demand from owners and buyers of electric cars in their areas.

The last £ 20m investment announced today for FY2021-22 is double the government funding in 2020-21, with the program appearing to be picking up momentum.

The new cash injection could make it easier to install around 4,000 EV chargers on the road, which would double the current availability in the UK.

The DfT said authorities who have already received funding through the program can apply for more alongside those who have not yet drawn on the pot.

A lack of charging infrastructure, especially for those with no off-street parking, is one of the biggest hurdles preventing motorists from switching to electric vehicles

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Tuesday: “From Cumbria to Cornwall, drivers across the country should benefit from the electric vehicle revolution we are seeing.

“With a world-leading charging system, we are making it easier for more people to switch to electric vehicles, creating healthier neighborhoods and cleaning our air when we start building more environmentally friendly again.”

Although government funding appears to be readily available, research released last month suggests that the program has been slow to roll out.

According to Centrica, the municipalities plan to install only 9,317 public charging stations for electric cars by 2025, which in turn could lead to a major “bottleneck in the introduction” of plug-in vehicles in the coming years.

The new cash injection confirmed today could facilitate the installation of around 4,000 EV chargers on the road, which would double current availability in the UK

Westminster tops the list of municipalities planning to retrofit streets with street chargers, a report from Centrica revealed earlier this year. The local authority is expected to increase its current availability from 497 charging points to 500.2 per 100,000 inhabitants by 2025

Over the next four years, an average of 35 chargers will be made available per community. 126 councils currently have no plans to install any at all, although the government plans to support facilities.

And contrary to Shapp’s Cumbria to Cornwall claim, the Centrica report showed significant inequality in road charger installations between regions, with local authorities in the south of England planning to add 2.5 times as many chargers on the road Road as the local authorities install in Northern England together the Midlands, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Edmund King, AA President, commented on the DfT’s new £ 20 million cash injection for chargers, saying it had previously identified misuse of government funds, with some councils using the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme to dispose of devices add to their pay-and-fees -View parking spaces.

“For the 40 percent of households with no designated off-street parking, finding a workable, cheap, and easy-to-use solution is critical,” he said.

‘However, our own study last year showed that some city councils only used this grant to fund charging points in downtown parking lots.

“While chargers are important for parking lots, we believe it goes against the spirit of the grant, which aims to solve the problem of EV drivers without off-street parking.

“The charging system also has to be reliable. That is why we work with charging station operators to maintain the flow of electricity.”

Charger installation has been delayed, a new report said

The introduction of chargers for electric cars will have to be accelerated by five times the current installation rate before a ban on new gasoline and diesel cars comes into effect in 2030, experts warned this morning.

The Think Tank Policy Exchange estimates the UK will need around 400,000 public chargers by 2030.

To achieve this goal, the infrastructure will have to be expanded from the current 7,000 per year to 35,000 per year over the next ten years.

She also warned that without additional funding or ministerial intervention, rural areas and small towns run the risk of “charging blackspots” and reduce the appetite for electric vehicles in these regions.

The Think Tank Policy Exchange has checked the existing charging infrastructure and the current rate of expansion. It is said that if the sales of new gasoline and diesel cars are banned in 2030, installations must immediately catch up to facilitate the switch to electric vehicles

Report author and Senior Research Fellow of Policy Exchange, Ed Birkett, said the government should focus on areas of “insufficient public charging points, including north west England, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland”.

He added, “Companies are rolling out charging points at a record rate, but there is a risk that some areas of the country will not receive enough charging points and be left behind.”

“We are concerned about the patchy availability of charging stations, which runs counter to the government’s plans for upgrading and a strong and connected Union.”

The report made several additional recommendations to rapidly strengthen charging infrastructure, including hiring private companies to assemble equipment in areas where they are sparse and local councils that have dedicated teams to identify where and when to charge chargers need to be installed.

It also called for a maximum usage fee and regulations for on-road chargers that are funded by the state to prevent vendors from taking advantage of local monopolies. Improvements in the usability of the devices were also required so that drivers can easily find the devices available and pay for their use with an app.

Rod Dennis, RAC spokesman, commented on the report: “Without a sharp increase in the number of charging stations across the UK, certain parts of the country are at risk of being left behind in 2030.

“Having a sufficient number of charging stations will also be of particular importance in rural areas of the UK, where there are large annual car visitors during the summer months.”