UK EV charging network to expand tenfold by 2030

Under the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, the expansion will be robust, fair and cover the entire country. Customer experience will be improved, with options to pay by contactless, compare charging prices and find nearby charge points via apps. There will also be increased support for those without off-street parking and those looking for fast charging for longer journeys.

The Rapid Charging Fund will support the rollout of around 6,000 super-fast charge points across England’s motorways by 2035. £500 million is also being invested in high-quality public charge points for communities across the UK.

A £450 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund will provide a boost to projects working on the likes of EV hubs and innovative on-street charging. £50 million of this will be used to fund staff working on local challenges and public charge point planning. Local authorities can now also bid for a share of £10 million in funding, allowing certain areas to boost charging opportunities.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We’re powering ahead with plans to help British people go electric, with our expanding charging network making journeys easier right across the country.

“Clean transport isn’t just better for the environment but is another way we can drive down our dependence on external energy supplies. It will also create new high-skilled jobs for our automotive and energy sectors and ultimately secure more sustainable and affordable motoring for all.”

To help eradicate ‘range anxiety’, these plans require a 99% reliability rate from rapid charge points and the government has asked operators to provide real-time data, allowing users to easily compare prices and find chargers using apps.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “No matter where you live – be that a city centre or rural village, the north, south, east or west of the country – we’re powering up the switch to electric and ensuring no one gets left behind in the process.

“The scale of the climate challenge ahead of us all is well known, and decarbonising transport is at the very heart of our agenda.

“That’s why we’re ensuring the country is EV-fit for future generations by the end of this decade, revolutionising our charging network and putting the consumer first.”

Alongside this, bp pulse announced plans to spend £1 billion on developing charging infrastructure in the UK. Richard Bartlett, Senior Vice President, bp pulse, said: “This £1 billion investment is vital to provide the charging infrastructure the UK needs.  We’re investing to build a world-class network.

“This investment allows us to deliver more. More high-speed charging in dedicated hubs and on existing fuel and convenience sites. More home charging services. And crucial enhancements to our digital technology that will make charging fast, easy and reliable.”

As well as this strategy, the government is launching an automotive roadmap outlining joint government and industry commitment to achieve decarbonisation of road transport.

Simon Tucker, Managing Partner & Head of Energy, Utilities, Resources and Services EMEA at Infosys Consulting believes the UK started its EV journey backwards, attempting to run before we could walk. But he says this new pledge will go some way to correct this.

“The Government’s latest pledge to provide a 10-fold increase on the current public charge points across the UK by 2030 is desperately needed. Electric cars are becoming mainstream, accelerated by the rising price of fuel, but the location and surrounding infrastructure is the biggest roadblock. Not all roads are equipped for the transition, and it’s a massively uneven picture across the UK. The infrastructure simply isn’t there to support the shift.

“The digital experience is also lacking. That’s why the mandating of operators to provide real-time data for consumers to check the status of devices and compare prices, and accept contactless payments, will be a game-changer. Even if charging ports were more widespread, there’s currently no ability to roam between networks and charge with other providers. Countries like Norway and Sweden are way more ahead, as they built the infrastructure before the cars. Here, we’ve been running before we can walk. However, this new pledge is a step towards correcting the UK’s backwards approach to EV roll-out.”