Written evidence from the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee (ELV0049) 

Dear Environment and Climate Change Committee,

I am writing in response to your inquiry into electric vehicles (EVs).

Energy Networks Association (ENA)represents the companies that operate and maintain the gas and electricity networks in the UK and Ireland. Serving over 30 million customers, they are responsible for the transmission and distribution network of “wires and pipes” that keep our lights on, our homes warm and our businesses running.

What are the challenges or concerns around grid capacity in relation to significantly increased EV adoption?

Britain’s electricity network is a key enabler to the delivery of net zero; whether through the connection of renewables, the development of robust flexibility markets, or other low carbon technologies (LCTs) devices such as EV chargers. Facilitating this increase in the number of connections will require a significant expansion of the capacity of the existing electricity network. Whilst the current framework and connections model have delivered record levels of renewable energy, the fact that the buildings in England and Wales were most commonly built between 1930 and 1982, 46% in England and 39% in Wales, and in England only 7% and 5% in Wales of buildings were built post 2012 or later[1], the electricity networks feeding those early buildings used different design parameters to those designs used currently and old network designs were not designed for the full suite of low carbon technologies, including EV chargers being connected currently. 

There are a number of factors affecting the pace of grid connections for customers. These range from planning and consenting challenges to grid capacity. There's a relentless determination from the energy networks, the Electricity System Operator (ESO), Ofgem and government to accelerate and improve this process for customers and we are all working together to do so.

To connect more capacity to the grid, to facilitate electric vehicle charging and other customers, we are collectively working on a number of industry initiatives, including:

• The ESO 5 Point Plan - Tactical initiatives that are being deployed quickly to manage the transmission connections queue and improve customer connections.
• The ESO Connections Reform Project – working to identify and progress the strategic reforms required to establish a long term fit for purpose connections framework for transmission system capacity.
• ENA Strategic Connections Group – which is currently deploying solutions that will improve connections outcomes for distribution network customers.
• Distribution Network Operator (DNOs) companies have also actively worked with Ofgem and the industry to reduce the upfront costs of connecting to the electricity networks, through the new grid access charging arrangements that were introduced in April 2023 and customers are now benefiting from.
• ENA’s Digitalisation of Connections (DoC) programme which will digitalise the residential retrofit connection process for Low Carbon technologies such as EV Charge Points. This will provide a better guide for installers and be faster for customers and provide accurate data for DNOs and other relevant parties.
• ENA is also working closely with the Institute of Engineering Technology to update key industry guidance to better advise on the appropriate assessment of LCT domestic connection applications.
• ENA has proposed a Nine Point Plan for reforms to address barriers in the existing land rights and consents regime for electricity infrastructure.
• ENA Strategic Telecoms Group – currently engaged with Department for Science, Innovation and technology and OFCOM and responding to Ofcom’s Call for input: Fixed wireless spectrum strategy to seek a scalable and efficient resilient telecommunication system capable of supporting a LCT whole energy system.

According to ZapMap, “at the end of July 2023, there were 45,737 electric vehicle charging points across the UK, across 26,805 charging locations. This represents a 40% increase in the total number of charging devices since July 2022”. This is the number of publicly available charge-points; there are many more charge-points available for private use.

ZapMap figures show that between the end of 2016 and 2022 the charge point network grew four-fold from 6,500 to more than 37,261 devices and in the last 12 months between end of 2021 to end of 2022, over 8,600 charge points were added to the UK network, a growth of 30%.

Great Britain’s electricity networks are supporting this roll-out. At the end of lockdown, as part of the government’s Green Recovery work we began accelerating around £300m of funding to enable projects supporting a decarbonised future to get under way faster, such as the roll-out of even more public charging infrastructure. At a Distribution level, where the majority of EVs are connected, c.29,000 customer projects (representing almost 2GW) have been connected already this year, and DNOs are expecting to have connected c.78,000 projects and over 6.5GWs total in 2023. However, with an anticipated 8-11 million EVs in use by 2030 when the ban on new internal combustion engines comes into effect, significantly more domestic and commercial infrastructure will be required.

To continue the pace of electric vehicle charging point roll-out, alongside other low-carbon technologies, significant investment will be required to build new network capacity. The government’s own analysis[2] has concluded that the onshore electricity network alone (excluding offshore) could require £100-240bn of investment by 2050. This includes £60-180bn of investment for the distribution networks. For the electricity distribution networks alone, it is estimated that by 2050 they could require up to 460,000km of additional network cabling, up from the 838,700km of cabling installed today. 

Under the current RIIO-2 price control (for the period of 2021-2028), electricity network operators are already investing a total of £31bn in transmission and distribution network infrastructure. This builds on the £37bn invested in the RIIO-1 period of 2013-2023 and is an increase of £900m a year. 

Whilst DNOs can make more of existing network capacity by expanding flexibility markets, reforms to the planning laws are essential to facilitate the necessary investment in new network capacity. Ofgem should also look at changes to its cost-benefit analysis to recognise whole system solutions to ensure it captures the costs and benefits, which flows through to tangible price control decisions that will allow networks to deliver the infrastructure required to support EV take up.

Statutory powers, planning processes and policies also need reform to ensure the process of securing land rights and permitting, while engaging local communities, is delivered faster than current processes allow.

When it comes to putting in place new network infrastructure, network companies face many of the same challenges as renewables developers, with the added dimension of the land rights process, which is needed to gain access to landowners’ property, but which is vulnerable to unreasonable landowner expectations. Elements of the planning system relevant to the building of electricity networks have also proven to be disproportionally expensive, slow and of significant uncertainty.

For example, if a DNO wants to upgrade an existing overhead power line on wood poles from two lines to three lines, then they will have to go through the entire land rights and consenting process again, which can often take up to five years to complete, across multiple parcels of land, with multiple landowners. The process of applying and receiving statutory powers for the land rights for that infrastructure, should any one of those landowners refuse to reach a negotiated settlement for those rights, can take 2 – 3 years alone.

The current framework for building new and the upgrading of existing electricity infrastructure is not fit for purpose and needs reform. ENA has submitted a Nine Point Plan to the Energy Department for how this reform could work in practice and is in the process of developing a more detailed assessment of options for reform, for the Energy Department.

What is the role of distribution network operators in ensuring EV infrastructure can be rolled out sufficiently to meet 2030 target?

Network operators are helping connect hundreds of thousands of EV charging points to the low voltage (11kV and 33kV) networks, in support of the government’s target of 300,000 public charging points by 2030. The National Grid Electricity Transmission and DNOs are currently working with OZEV, DfT, National Highways, Motorway Services Areas (MSAs) Operators and Ofgem in the roll out of Project Rapid, the installation of Rapid chargers in the MSAs in England. This project looks to have sufficient capacity to meet expected load out to three timelines, namely 2025, 2030 and 2035 at the MSAs. The initial pilot project is also planning for installing a finite number of HGV chargers at the pilot locations. Smart charging points also have huge benefits to the grid, helping maximise network capacity.

While networks continue to actively enable the transition to EVs, in some areas of the country, a lack of network capacity makes connecting EV charge points slower than charge point installers would like, while DNOs are often unable to access data on where charge points are being installed. This is in part due to DNOs only being informed of approximately 40% of home EV charger installations.

As well as increasing the use of existing network capacity through flexibility markets, innovation projects and by building new network capacity, we need to ensure that policy and regulation are aligned to maximise benefits for customers.  

DNOs have recently delivered more than £300m of early investment in network capacity through our ‘Green Recovery’ programme. Funding was part sourced from network companies’ existing allowances, where they have delivered efficiencies from the RIIO-ED1 price control period to fast-track extra capacity to support green developments such as EV charging points, ‘green’ housing developments and even decarbonised flight. 

Ofgem’s forthcoming cost-benefit analysis of smart public and rapid public charging must include the costs and timings required for electricity network reinforcement to connect EV charge points, so it can make the right, supportive decisions through the price control process for network companies. 

DNOs are working with government to ensure the correct data sharing standards on EV charge points and other Low Carbon Technology (LCT) devices are in place. What is also important is the government enforces existing regulations related to the notification by installers of LCT devices to the network operators.