Pace of car charger rollout must double to hit targets

THE speed of electric car charger installation needs to nearly double to meet driver demand after the petrol phaseout deadline, figures suggest.

The UK has around 24,000 public electric chargers, with at least 230,000 needed by 2035 to allow drivers convenient access, as experts warned that the Government’s green targets could be “undermined” if demand was not met.

Analysis by New AutoMotive, a transport research group, also suggests that there are now more than 10 electric cars for every charger.

Last year around 27 chargers were installed every day on average, a rate that needs to rise to at least 45.

The Committee on Climate Change, which advises the Government, said that more public chargers will be needed, with the highest estimates predicting 480,000 will be required by 2030, depending on how quickly people ditch their petrol and diesel cars.

New petrol and diesel cars are to be banned from sale from 2030, with plugin hybrids following suit from 2035.

Ben Nelmes, head of policy at New AutoMotive, said: “If people who don’t have the ability to charge at home buy one, they can’t get by because the charging infrastructure is not there, then it’s going to undermine the whole project, the whole mission to get to those 2030 and 2035 phase-out dates. So it’s really important. It’s not just the total number of chargers, they’ve got to be in the right place.”

In its report earlier this year Transport & Environment said: “Drivers will struggle to find a convenient public charge point of the type they need.”

Rod Dennis, an RAC spokesman, said: “It’s vital that installations of new chargers keep pace, but having good charging infrastructure is about more than just the numbers – the speed and location of chargers are arguably even more important.

“For example, having plenty of slower chargers in places like shopping centres where drivers park for longer periods makes sense, but elsewhere a focus on rapid or even ultra-rapid units would be much more in drivers’ interests.”

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: “The Government is investing £1.3 billion to accelerate the rollout of our charging infrastructure over the next four years, and we have already installed 25,000 public charge points – including more than 4,700 rapid devices.”