As part of the UK’s commitment to end our contribution to climate
change, the government is committed to supporting growth of
green, zero emission technologies.
We are consulting to bring
forward the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and
vans to 2035, or earlier if a faster transition is feasible.
Extensive public charging infrastructure across our motorways and
major A roads is a key part of this transition.
Government has undertaken a detailed analysis to assess the
number of chargepoints required to meet future en route charging
needs along motorways and major A roads.
Currently, a driver is never more than 25 miles away from a rapid
(50 kilowatt) chargepoint anywhere along England’s motorways and
major A roads, with a total of 809 open-access rapid
chargepoints, as of 1 January 2020. This includes an average of 2
rapid chargepoints at motorway service areas with more being
rolled out over the next year.
The Rapid Charging Fund was
announced in the March 2020 Budget as part of a £500
million commitment for EV charging infrastructure. The purpose of
this funding will be to ensure that there is a rapid-charging
network ready to meet the long-term consumer demand for electric
vehicle chargepoints ahead of need.
It will be available to fund a portion of costs at strategic
sites across the strategic road network where upgrading
connections to meet future demand for high powered chargepoints
is prohibitively expensive and uncommercial. Timing and process
for delivery of this funding will be confirmed in due course.
The following ambitions will be supported by the Rapid Charging
Fund to assist where the electrical connection costs of upgrading
sites to meet future charging demand is not commercially viable.
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By 2023, we aim to have at least 6 high powered, open
access chargepoints (150 - 350 kilowatt capable) at motorway
service areas in England, with some larger sites having as
many as 10-12. We are confident this will be more than enough
to meet demand from electric vehicles by this date. These
high powered chargepoints are able to charge up to 3 times
faster than most of the chargepoints currently in place, and
can deliver around 120-145 miles of range in just 15 minutes
for a typical electric vehicle.
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By 2030, we expect the network to be extensive and ready for
more people to benefit from the switch to electric cars. We
are planning for there to be around 2,500 high powered
chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A roads.
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By 2035 we expect around 6,000 high powered chargepoints
across England’s motorways and major A roads.
Government will be working with the operators of major service
areas to ensure that this charging provision is in place ahead of
customer demand. The aim is to help support early adoption of
electric vehicles and remove range anxiety concerns for drivers
on long journeys.
Under our vision we expect that any new chargepoints will be easy
to use and hassle-free.
That means:
- drivers can pay for the cost of charging their vehicle using
debit or credit card payment
- information about the chargepoints on motorways will be
openly available, helping drivers choose when, where and how they
charge
- chargepoints will be available 99% of the time
- drivers will be supported by 24/7 customer care to handle any
technical issues
- sites will have chargepoints that support all types of
electric vehicles
- there will be clear pricing information available in pence
per kilowatt hour
Working with industry, the government will continue to monitor
the number of chargepoints being installed across our motorways
and the associated customer experience.
We have powers under the Automated and Electric
Vehicles Act to bring in regulations if necessary, to
improve the consumer experience of using electric vehicle
charging infrastructure and to ensure levels of chargepoint
provision at key sites such as motorway service areas.
Definitions
We have defined ‘open access’ as not-for-proprietary-use for
specific makes of vehicles, so the figure for open access
chargepoints excludes Tesla Superchargers. Including Tesla
Superchargers, there are 792 rapid and 311 ultra-rapid devices
along the strategic road network (SRN) for a total of 1,103 rapid
enabled device. A device is counted as being on
the SRN if
it is within 1 linear mile of a point of entry/exit to
the SRN.
For a typical electric vehicle with a battery size of 62kWh, and
a range of 200-240 miles, a 15 minute charge at a 150 kilowatt
chargepoint would deliver a range of 120-145 miles.
