Electric cars are not the future. They are the present! We are far past the point of thinking of electric vehicles as a subcategory of the automotive industry. Electric cars are truly in the mainstream and they are here to stay. Of course, with the vastly increasing number of electric vehicles on the road, we also need a public charging network that can meet the demands of the drivers. Even if you have a home charger, there will most likely come a point when you are on a long journey and will need to use a public charger.
Government Targets for the UK Public Charging Network
The UK government wants electric vehicles to be a success. A report in 2018 showed that the effects of air pollution would cost the health and social care services in the UK around £5.3 billion by 2035 unless something is done. Incentives are there for real change to be made. Government plans to aid the conversion to electric vehicles is to increase the UK public charging network to 300,000 by 2030. This is higher than the estimated 280,000 that it is believed will be needed by that time. So, how is it going so far?
At the time of writing this blog there are 59,590 devices installed in the UK, according to Zap-Map. With only 6 years to go from the target date, it can be seen that there is still a long way to go.
Government Plans and Funding
There are various plans in place to try and boost the UK public charging network. One such plan was launched in Nottingham in February 2024 in which grants are being provided to publicly funded schools, colleges and nurseries in order to give more charging options to staff and visitors. The grant will cover up to 75% of the cost to buy and install the charge points.
In the wider UK there is the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (LEVI) which is delivering £381 million to local authorities in order to boost the public charging infrastructure. So far, there are four authorities who have had charging projects approved. These being East Sussex, North Yorkshire and 2 London boroughs. The pace of project approval will need to pick up very quickly in the next year or two.More than £2 billion has already been spent by the government to aid the smooth switch to EVs.
Positive Results in 2024
There is good news, however, for the first quarter of 2024. The growth of public chargers has seen a 35% increase when compared to the average installations made in 2023. This shows that there is more haste in the construction process. We have already seen an increase of 47% on the total number of public charge points since the end of March 2023.
Further positive news is that, the top five networks that install high powered chargers, have installed 75% of the rapid and ultra rapid chargers since the end of 2023. These are the types of charger that we need to see more of. We also need them to be reliable and well maintained.
The Disparity of the UK Public Charging Network
We absolutely applaud the fact that a huge number of charge points have already been installed. A quick look on the Zap-Map app will show you vast swathes of electric charge points available to the public. However there is a big issue. Look again at the same map and you will see gaping holes in various parts of the country. The north of England, south west England, the west of England and Wales, as well as Northern Ireland and Scotland are all severely lacking.
The vast majority of public chargers in the UK can be found in London. Being the financial hub of the country, as well as being the most populous place in the UK, it is perhaps not surprising that so many are found there. However, more is needed everywhere if the net zero goals of the government are going to be met.
In Conclusion
On the face of it, the UK is falling behind slightly on where we need to be in order to meet the targets ahead of 2030. However, a lot of private companies are making major progress. We would certainly like to see a lot more local authority projects approved quickly, and we would definitely want to see these projects rolled out in the empty zones of the nation.
There is no doubt that the UK will achieve a very widespread charging network in the next 10 years. It must be pointed out that it isn’t just the charge points themselves that is needed. We also need the charge points to be rapid or ultra-rapid in the places they are required. The charge points also have to be working properly. So proper monitoring and maintenance is essential. This can be done.
