Motorway services electric vehicle charge point target missed

A Government target for the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charge points at motorway services has been missed, new analysis shows.

Every motorway service station in England was supposed to have at least six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers by the end of 2023.

However, the RAC suggests that just two out of five (40%) of services have the requisite chargers in place.

Analysing data from Zapmap in December, the RAC found that 178 faster charge points had been installed at motorway services since April. But only 46 of 119 sites now had six of these high-powered chargers in place by year end.

Leicester Forest on the M1, Tebay South on the M6, and Barton Park on the A1 (M), had no charging facilities of any kind.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: "There is undoubtedly an eagerness among charge point companies and motorway service operators to install these types of units but unfortunately, it's often the high-power cabling to the grid that's the major barrier which is out of their hands.

"More clearly needs to be done to make this process simpler than it is currently."

In November’s Autumn Statement, the Government announced changes to planning rules and reforms to the grid connection process[1] in an effort remove some of the biggest barriers to the rollout of EV charge points at motorway services.

Furthermore, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a £70 million fund to help motorway service areas upgrade network capacity[2] to cater for ultra-rapid EV charge points in December.

Transport secretary, Mark Harper, outlined plans for up to 10 trial sites in England, with the Government’s Rapid Charging Fund cover a portion of the upgrade costs.

The pilot involving up to 10 schemes is being delivered by National Highways and will help gather evidence to inform the design of a full fund.

A spokesperson for the DfT told the BBC[3]: “Around 96% of motorway services now offer charging facilities for drivers.

“As well as our £70m pilot to help roll out ultra-rapid charge points on motorways, we are driving forward the biggest reforms to our electricity grid since the 1950s - halving the time it takes to build networks and speeding up connections.”

References

  1. ^ changes to planning rules and reforms to the grid connection process (www.fleetnews.co.uk)
  2. ^ a £70 million fund to help motorway service areas upgrade network capacity (www.fleetnews.co.uk)
  3. ^ BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)

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