UK to invest over £380 million in charging infrastructure

The British government has announced an additional investment of more than 380 million pounds in the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles as part of a major energy package.

In addition, the government is now launching the final consultation on their so-called ‘ZEV mandate’. The consultation will run until 24 May 2023 and is intended to pave the transition to enshrine in law the planned combustion vehicle phase-out for new cars in the United Kingdom from 2035. The UK government’s proposal for the ZEV mandate is to impose annual sales targets for electric vehicles on manufacturers. Specifically, from 2024, at least 22 per cent of new passenger cars sold in the UK will have to be locally emission-free.

This ZEV quota is to increase to 80 per cent by 2030 and to the targeted 100 per cent by 2035. For new vans, at least ten per cent of vehicles sold in the UK are to be zero-emission in 2024, 70 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035.

A major focus of the new bill is on “energy security”, which is to be guaranteed in the long term after the recent crises and the war in Ukraine. Two measures are mentioned at the interface between energy and transport. The expansion of the charging network is to be accelerated with said 380 million pounds and a “stable environment is to be created for companies that want to invest and grow in the transition to electric vehicles and sustainable fuel for aviation”. As the energy package includes a number of measures, the individual points are not elaborated on, so there are no details on the two projects mentioned.

Around £198 billion were invested into low-carbon energy in the UK since 2010 through a mix of government funding, private investment and levies on consumer bills. Going forward, the initiators of the new charging infrastructure plan anticipate around £100 billion of private investment will be needed “to fund the UK’s energy revolution”.

“We have stepped in to shield people from its worst impacts by helping to pay around half the typical energy bill, said prime minister Rishi Sunak. “But we are also stepping up to power Britain and ensure our energy security in the long term with more affordable, clean energy from Britain, so we can drive down energy prices and grow our economy.” Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps added: “Following our unprecedented cost of living support this Winter, which continues, this plan now sets out how we fix this problem in the long term to deliver wholesale UK electricity prices that rank amongst the cheapest in Europe, as we export our green growth expertise to the world.”

gov.uk, gov.uk (ZEV mandate as PDF), gov.uk (energy packet as PDF)