The EV charging industry is today welcoming extensions to two
grants schemes supporting home and workplace charge point
deployment, and new proposals from the Government to improve the
reliability of public charging infrastructure, make data more
available to consumers, and make payments more streamlined.
On the grants, industry welcomes the extension to the EV
Homecharge Scheme and the Workplace Charging Scheme as they are
critical programs for supporting homes and businesses wanting to
go electric. Changes to the schemes, for example making it easier
for consumers living in apartments to access the grant, are
welcome and are reflective of industry asks.
On the consultation, the UK’s EV charging sector, comprised of
those operating, installing, and manufacturing chargers along
with those providing payments, telecoms, and other services to
the industry, has been working hard to ensure consumers are able
to use an open, reliable, and simple-to-use charging network.
The national charging network is comprised of over 40 charge
point operators using a range of equipment, back-office software,
and payment systems. It is a new industry which is experiencing
rapid growth in order to meet future demand.
The REA sees a key role for government to baseline expectations
for how these market players should operate. Specifically, the
REA supports Government interventions that will:
- Ensure consumers have clear bills and can understand what
they have paid for in a charging session,
- Ensure that chargers are well maintained so that consumers
can be confident that the chargers will work as expected,
- Ensure basic market information is accessible to consumers so
they can locate chargers, understand how much sessions cost, and
thereby make decisions around which chargers they want to use,
- Ensure drivers can access any charger simply, with more
charging networks ‘roaming’ with each other to reduce the number
of apps and cards needed to access different networks.
It is important that Government intervenes just enough that the
sector is regulated, but not so much that it prevents market
growth, development and innovation.
The sector is also keen to ensure that disabled drivers and more
vulnerable persons are able to easily locate charge points in
their area that are suitable.
Daniel Brown Head of Transport at the Association for Renewable
Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said:
“An open, reliable, and simple-to-navigate charging network is
crucial if we are to keep the confidence of individual drivers
and fleets and take electric vehicles into the mainstream.
“We welcome Government setting baseline expectations and ‘guard
rails’ for the industry to deliver on.
“The EV charging sector, however, is a complex blend of telecoms,
electricity provision, payments, real estate, and hardware and we
would caution against interventions that would stymie innovation
that will benefit consumers and be the backbone of emerging
British brands.
“We look forward to working with Government on the detail around
how reliability will be monitored, payments more standardised,
and exactly what types of data will be made open, and to whom.”
Commenting on the extension of the grant schemes, Daniel Brown,
said:
“The EV Homecharge Scheme and Workplace Charging Scheme have
helped make charging accessible and affordable to private drivers
and businesses over the years. We welcome the extension and
expanded scope of these schemes. The changes show that Government
is closely listening to, and working with, industry in order to
achieve our common goal of Net Zero.”
