Electric vehicles: gaps in charging provision ‘disappointing’

13.19 | 4 November 2019 | | 1 comment

Local authorities have a key role to play in ensuring people from ‘all corners of the country’ can conveniently use electric vehicles, the Government has said.

Last week, transport secretary Grant Shapps wrote a letter to local authorities urging them to take advantage of funding to build the country’s electric car charging infrastructure and increase local access to charge points.

Mr Shapps says a driver’s postcode should play no part in how easy it is to use an electric car – pointing to data which shows London, with almost 4,000, has the highest number of electric vehicle charging devices publicly available.

Other best performing areas include Scotland, which has more than 1,500 charging devices, the north west, south east and south west.

Funding for local authorities is available through three schemes, including the £5m on-street residential chargepoint scheme – which helps with the costs of procurement and installation of on-street charging points for residential use.

The Government says while there are now more charging locations than petrol stations, more than 100 local authorities have fewer than 10 public charging devices per 100,000 population.

Grant Shapps, transport secretary, said: “Your postcode should play no part in how easy it is to use an electric car, and I’m determined electric vehicles become the new normal for drivers.

“It’s good news there are now more charging locations than petrol stations, but the clear gaps in provision are disappointing. I urge local councils to take advantage of all the government support on offer to help ensure drivers in their area don’t miss out.

“To help increase the provision of charging locations, the government is offering grants for the installation of charging points on the street, in work and at home. We are also offering grants to lower the upfront cost of these cars so everyone is able to experience the benefits.”


 

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    In the interests of equality perhaps electric vehicle articles should add “other alternatively fuelled vehicles are available”

    It is refreshing to see today’s BBC article on hydrogen powered cars.


    Pat, Wales
    Agree (4) | Disagree (0)
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