Written evidence submitted by Transport East (SEV0088)

1.     Context

Transport East has been supporting our local partners to assess, map, forecast and accelerate EV trajectories and EV infrastructure delivery for the last three years. Our work has helped our local authorities to develop their EV strategies and informed the delivery of their LEVI funding allocations.

The Transport East region has a sparse geography. With one-third of people living in rural areas, private transport remains the most popular mode of travel in the East due to limited public transport options. This heavy reliance on private vehicles presents several challenges, including:

• High Carbon Emissions: Transport accounts for 42% of carbon emissions in the East, significantly higher than the national average of 26%, with car ownership as a major contributor.
• Limited Public Transport Connectivity: Rural and smaller communities often lack adequate public transport options, making private vehicles the primary mode of transportation.

Due to our role, remit and insight we have focused our responses to questions a, b, f, g, and h.

We have also provided some commentary on the need to balance EV adoption with other transport policy goals based on evidence from our regional activity & agent-based transport model (BERTIE).

1. How effective have Government policies been in driving EV adoption to date, and what further action is required to accelerate take-up?

Evidence from our EV forecasting study EV:Ready published in 2023 indicates that to meet Government targets, there needs to be a steep increase in EV uptake from 2025/2026. Policies to date have been helping to create a stable increase in ownership, although this has stagnated more recently. Our analysis (see fig.1) indicates the propensity to adopt EVs is higher for those on higher household incomes, those with access to off-street charging, urban dwellers and younger age groups.

Fig.1

In a region with a large number of rural communities, with pockets of deprivation and both villages and urban communities with historic street layouts and low levels of off-street parking (average of 24.4% across the East, with a third of Southend and Thurrock households with on-street charging), there are clear challenges to widening the adoption of EVs across the whole of the region.

2. How robust is the current rate of EV take-up relative to the Government’s targets?

In 2023 we baselined the number of EV registrations in the region and the number and type of charging points in our EV:Ready report. We reassessed these figures a year later as part of our REVEAL study and found that broadly the installations of EV charging infrastructure (year-on-year up 43%) had kept place with the increase in registered EVs (year-on-year up 45%).

However, more recent evidence shows that over the last year this has slowed, both in terms of EV take up and charge point installation.

EV take up

The data in Fig.2 comes from the DVLA licence statistics and projects EV sales forecasts based on historic trends. This enables us to estimate when EVs may reach 50% market share in the East.

The statistics on the right-hand side show this trend over different timeframes – all time, 10-yr period, and latest 4-yr period.

The results show a slowing down of EV sales vs historic trends (i.e., the 50% market share is reached at a later year in the 4-year trend trajectory vs both the all year, and 10-yer trend trajectories).

Fig.2

When it comes to EV charge point (EVCP) installations we have seen steady increases in the East, but these have also slowed over the last 12 months (see Fig.3) However, we are aware that LEVI funding cycles influence the installation delivery rates, with procurement and set up also a factor. The last tranche of LEVI funding was announced in July 2025, and we are aware that our authorities have contractors in place and have started the next wave of installations, so there should be an uplift in the number of public chargers across the East in the next update.

Our EV:Ready report forecast the number of public chargers needed to respond to the forecast number of EVs in the region. We can see that even against a slower uptake there is a notable gap in number of public chargers needed, vs those delivered of 1,857. Whilst it is not entirely the responsibility of local authorities and central government to fill this gap, given the role of private sector providers in the space, we know that charge point availability is a factor in driver confidence to move to an EV, so the gap is something to monitor.

Fig. 3

f. What are the most significant factors affecting consumer confidence in EVs, including purchase and running costs, chargepoint availability, concerns about battery longevity, safety and fire risk, and what are the best steps Government and the sector could take to address them?

In 2024 Transport East published a regional Travel Behaviour Survey, gathered from over 3,800 respondents across the region. Within the survey we asked questions about behaviours and attitudes to electric vehicles. Results showed:

• 7% of car owners surveyed had an electric vehicle or plug in hybrid.
• Over these 84% reported easy access to private charging and 66% reported easy access to public charging stations.
• 42% expressed an intention to transition to an EV in the next 2-10 years. Around half do not intend to buy or lease an EV in future – which indicates a notable cohort resistant to adopting.
• The biggest barriers to transitioning to an EV were vehicle cost and charging access. The Government has programmes in place to address these, so should see these becoming less of an issue over time.
• Limited knowledge was raised by 22% of respondents which suggests information campaign material may increase uptake. There was a gender difference in this response with 15% of men raising limited knowledge, vs 27% of women. Also 48% of younger people (16-29) cited limited knowledge as a factor – with this group potentially looking to own their first vehicle. Targeting information towards these groups may accelerate uptake.

Fig.4

g. What further action is required to ensure that the rollout of EV charging infrastructure facilitates transition at the necessary rate?

In 2024 we published our REVEAL report, which focussed on the progress local authorities had made in the capacity and capability needed to accelerate EVCP delivery and their ability to discharge the LEVI funding allocations effectively.

This demonstrated real progress across the region over the course of 12months (see Fig. 5). While we have not reassessed this information in 2025, this is a rapidly moving area and through our ongoing engagement we are aware that there has been a maturing of the skills, capacity, programmes and processes needed to deliver LA EV responsibilities.

However, there remains discrepancies between authorities on capability and capacity, with larger county-level Local Transport Authorities able to build and deliver more easily than smaller Unitary authorities.

Given the changes to local authorities planned through Local Government Reorganisation there is a risk that the skills, capacity and networks that have been developed over the last few years will be fractured, resulting in a stalling of local delivery of LEVI funded chargepoints. The DfT needs to prepare to upskill new authorities rapidly, and potentially release additional LEVI capacity funding in future years to ensure continued stable delivery.

Fig. 5

h. How effectively is the Department for Transport addressing issues in the rollout of charging infrastructure such as affordability, geographic equity, accessibility, administration of funding, and the availability of grid connections?

Feedback from our Local Authorities has raised some challenges with managing LEVI funding and delivering what is needed based on local geographic and demographic differences. Points raised include:

-         Changes to LEVI policy, particularly around the margin cap has caused some significant delays in finalising contracts with operators. Whilst it is understood that given this is still a relatively emerging and complex sector, there will be steep learning curves, changes in direction from Government has caused confusion and added complications.

-         The introduction of cross-pavement channel funding, without clear guidance or adequate notice to Local Authorities, has created demand from residents (and elected members on behalf of residents) which could impact the viability and profitability of LEVI funded chargepoints, adding further complexity to delivery. Also pavement channels conflict with current highway law, making it difficult for EV teams to work with their direct colleagues in Highways teams.

-         Delays have been created through the sign-off processes for funding from DfT and the contracting requirements. A suggestion is having national standards relating to the installation side, in addition to the Public Charge Point Regulations that govern the operations. Clearer direction from the DfT on what is required to access funding would also be appreciated.

-         LAs suggest greater input from the sector in the development of national policy and guidance to ensure it can be implemented successfully by local authorities, based on local needs.

Feedback on working with the energy sector and charge point operators has been largely positive. Data from multiple sources including Energy Savings Trust, Transport East and DNO’s Chargepoint Navigator tools has helped LAs plan effective roll-out. Alongside the local independent connections providers. 

Additional points

As a largely car-dependent region, we recognise that to meet net zero goals EV transition is important to the East. However, there is a risk that increased EV ownership could undermine other transport and economic goals.

Using our Agent and Activity- based Transport Model (BERTIE) which uses a synthetic population to create a detailed representation of travel options and behaviours and can be used to look at several different angles on transport in the region. This includes looking at different groups of people, different types of journey, how different people respond to changes and shift modes.

We used this to test what the wider implications of EV uptake would be in the East. This showed that:

-         Even on the most ambitious private EV uptake scenario we are only forecasting getting halfway to net zero transport. Mode shift remains important, and solutions for Freight and HGVs particularly need to be prioritised to make further progress – especially given the East’s role in international trade.

-         Pricing is a key driver of behaviour change for private cars. If lower costs for Electric Vehicles persist into the future, they are likely to encourage more driving, especially at short distances. The new VED policy goes someway to addressing this.

-         While an EV is mostly decarbonised, it is still a vehicle on the road and contributes to congestion (reducing productivity, road safety and the attractiveness of places) and reduces the likelihood of people opting for walking and cycling – which has long term health implications.

-         Higher income households tend to drive for more trips and tend to drive further, but they are most likely to decarbonise themselves through investment in an EV. Delivering equitable decarbonisation for lower income groups should be a priority. Policy interventions focused on the second hand market and shared-mobility including car-sharing would benefit lower income groups.

January 2026