The United Kingdom is slipping farther behind its plans for its electric car charging infrastructure, and a widening difference in the availability of public charging stations makes ownership of an electric vehicle (EV) in London enticing but nearly impossible in the north.
Incredibly, Westminster in London has more charging stations than Birmingham, Liverpool, and Greater Manchester combined, according to data provided this week by the Department of Transport.
Eight of the ten local authorities with the ‘best’ charging facilities are located in the capital, whereas the places rated the worst are primarily in rural areas, heightening fears that electric cars are not for all Britons.
According to the most recent DfT statistics, as of 1 October 2022, there were 34,637 public charging stations in the United Kingdom.
Between July and September’s conclusion, an average of 875 devices were installed per month.
It indicates that the British government is falling woefully short of the goals it set for the end of the decade when it plans to restrict the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles and encourage more drivers to use electric vehicles.
Ministers have committed to having 300,000 public charging stations operational by 2030.
To achieve this goal, the average monthly rate of installations must grow from 875 to 3,015. That is a phenomenal increase of 245%.
And experts are even more concerned about the rising difference between the number of chargers in different places.
Ginny Buckley, the founder of the electric car website Electrifying.com, described the disparity in the availability of charging stations across the United Kingdom as “scary.”
She stated, “If action is not taken – and quickly – the disparity in installation rates across the United Kingdom would exacerbate inequities in the purchase of electric vehicles in Britain.”
We need the government and local authorities to do better for everyone, not just the few who visit and live in districts of London like Westminster.
Without doing so, we risk leaving large portions of the population behind at a crucial time, so strengthening the North-South split and establishing a two-tier nation.
If we want to inspire confidence in people to make the changeover and reduce charging anxiety, we must ensure that people can rely on the public charging network; this requires increasing the network’s size, enhancing its dependability, and ensuring that pricing is equitable.
Director of EVs at British Gas, Kim Royds, commented on the inconsistent availability of public charging infrastructure as follows: ‘The universal adoption of EVs will only occur if the supporting charging infrastructure is widely available and easily accessible.
This necessitates the expansion of charge points outside urban regions and into all public spaces, including rural and remote locations.
“Local authorities play a crucial role in providing these services and expanding the EV charging infrastructure in the United Kingdom.
“According to our data, municipalities intend to add 16,500 public charge points during the next 12 months, which is a significant step toward an electric future.
If we want the rollout of electric vehicles to be effective, we must see more coordinated investment across public places, privately held premises, and home charging.
While charger availability is considerably below what it should be, fees for using public charging stations are beginning to level out this week.
Osprey Charging announced it will reduce its record-high charges from £1 per kWh to 79p on November 1 due to the launch of the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses.
Due to the growing wholesale price of electricity, the British corporation said more than a month ago that it will increase the price of using its public network or devices by more than 50 percent.
To prevent people from hogging gadgets for too long, rival provider PodPoint recently announced that it will discontinue free charging at Tesco car parks beginning next month.
