Only two Welsh council have published electric vehicle (EV) transition plans despite being encouraged to do so by the UK Government, an investigation has found.
The move to electric vehicles will have a positive effect in both fight against global heating and poor air quality levels. Recently WalesOnline conducted an investigation into how poor air quality was killing people in the Newport area. Electric cars are now widely available and used but there are substantial barriers to further take up due to the lack of charging points. Rectifying this will take some serious planning.
Of the 22 Welsh Councils only two, Carmarthenshire and Anglesey, have published an EV charging transition plan. Six other council apparently have plans but haven't yet published them. The other 14 either have no plan or did not respond to the requests.
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Wales was among the worst parts of Wales when it came to local authorites having such plans in place with just 13% of councils publsihing such a document. This was second only to Norther Ireland (0%) and East Midlands (10%). London is the region with the highest proportion of councils with a published strategy, at 57%. It is followed by the West Midlands (44%), Scotland (38%) and the North West (30%).
The data comes from a freedom of information requests by the FairCharge campaign which found 28% of local authorities have released a strategy for supporting the switch to electric motoring.
The table shows the break down of Welsh councils:
FairCharge spokesman Quentin Willson, a former Top Gear presenter, said: “The figures revealed from councils in our freedom of information requests are extremely worrying. BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and DfT say that local authorities are best placed to consider local needs.
“This of course is true, but we can see today that without a big role for central government in supporting councils, there is a real chance that much of country will be left behind in terms of public charging infrastructure. Councils clearly need to up their game too, but there needs to be direction and oversight from central government.”
EV owners without access to off-road parking at home often rely on public chargepoints installed by councils. Mr Willson went o to say: “The figures are so concerning because they mean that many people - such as those without driveways - will be hindered from taking part in the EV revolution. This is simply unfair and will hold us back in our efforts to decarbonise transport."
The sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2030 and plug-in vehicles, which include pure electrics and plug-in hybrids, accounted for more than one in six new cars registered in the UK in 2021.
Responding to the figures a Wales Local Government Association spokesman said: "Councils in Wales are fully engaged in work to develop the infrastructure necessary to support the move to electric vehicles as part of their wider decarbonisation strategies. All councils have been working to install charging points in their depots for their own fleet, supported by a Welsh Government grant.
"They also took part recently in workshops run with Welsh Government and Field Dynamics to identify suitable sites for charging points, and bids were submitted to the UK Government’s on street residential charging scheme at the end of March. That work will complement existing initiatives by councils across Wales both regionally and locally. For example, the Cardiff Capital Region has used Welsh Government’s ultra-low emissions vehicles transformation fund to help deliver infrastructure and provide incentives for early take up of these vehicles.
"Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council has acted as the lead authority for Cardiff City Region and managed the ultra-low emissions Vehicles funding element with the Regional Transport Authority providing leadership and overall management of the project."
