The department for carry has revealed its EV infrastructure plan to advance the rollout of public charge points for electric cars, including a £450m fund that local authorities can use to expand charge point provision in their areas.
The local authority fund, along with the £950m rapid Charging Fund which supports the rollout of 6,000 high powered chargers across the motorway network, are both elements in a previously announced government investment package totalling £1.6bn.
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It should mean drivers have access to around 300,000 public chargers by 2030, the DfT claims, a number that’s five times the number of fuel pumps in UK filling stations.
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In its statement announcing the plan, the DfT said the government’s aim is to expand the UK’s charging network so it’s robust, fair and covers the whole country.
“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,” said carry secretary grant Shapps.
As part of the new plan, the DfT has also announced that it will become mandatory for charge point operators to provide real-time data about their charge points and prices, as well as accepting contactless payments and meeting a 99 percent reliability standard.
No national direction for charger rollout
There is, however, no national direction over how the rollout should be implemented, with the DfT leaving local authorities to develop individual schemes. As a result, the society of motor manufacturers has renewed its call for a nationally coordinated infrastructure campaign, including binding targets that would match the targets the government has placed on automobile makers to end production of internal combustion-engined cars. “If industry and consumers are to have the certainty they need to invest, commensurate and binding targets must be set for infrastructure provision,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes. “Deployed nationally and at pace, this expansion would give drivers confidence they will be able to charge as easily as they would refuel, wherever they are.”
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