Electric vehicle chargepoints: Is Govt on track to deliver what will be needed by 2030?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) holds an evidence session scrutinising progress towards targets for the installation of public charge points for electric vehicles on Monday 22 January at 3:30pm. The session follows the National Audit Office’s (NAO) recent report on the topic.
Meeting details
The Department for Transport (DfT) has estimated that at least 300,000 public charge points will be needed to support the Government’s ambition to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030, a target which reports suggest it is on track to achieve. However, with stretches of major A-roads absent public charging points, the PAC could ask how DfT will overcome barriers including poor grid connectivity to ensure it is able to meet targets.
The NAO has reported that 44% of all public charge points are currently located in London and the South-East. There are currently more chargepoints in Westminster than in the whole of the North East and Northern Ireland combined. The PAC may question if a single target is leading to regional disparities going unchecked and may ask what can be done to reverse this trend.
By 2035, 1.35m disabled drivers are expected to be reliant on public charge points. However, given accessibility requirements have largely been left out of the rollout to date, the DfT could be asked how they plan to address accessibility issues.
Despite strong engagement from local authorities with DfT programmes, there are concerns that changes to regulations could mean they find themselves vying for contracts in a more competitive and congested market than first anticipated. The PAC may ask how DfT will look to mitigate risks and could question how the £950million allocated to the Rapid Charge Fund, none of which has yet been spent, could be used to remove barriers.