Grant Shapps unveiled a £100 million plan on Thursday to boost London and the South-East’s electric car charging network.
The details of the new funding allocations for English regions came as the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary was setting out a sweeping package of measures aimed at slashing energy bills and making households greener.
But Labour insisted the announcements were a “weak and feeble groundhog day” of “re-heated policy”. In a bid to supercharge the country’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the Government announced a total of almost £400 million for local authorities to deliver more charging points.
This included nearly £36 million in capital funding for London boroughs and £53 million for councils in the South-East as well as “capability” funding of nearly £10 million to administer the new charging points.
Officials said the money will be used to encourage private investment in new charge points in each local authority. London Councils and Transport for London will also be able to use capability funding to support co-ordination between boroughs.
Although London leads the way in the UK with a third of all Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points located in the capital, campaign groups have been calling for ministers and local authorities to step up provision to turbo charge the transition from petrol and diesel vehicles.
Mr Shapps himself stressed in a Government response to a consultation on charging points, published this morning, that “we need to go faster and further”.
But he added: “I want it to be as easy to charge your EV as it is to fill up at the pump for everyone. Consumers should be able to locate available chargepoints simply, pay for a charge easily, and be assured that the chargepoint they choose is reliable, regardless of where they are in the UK.”
At the moment there are around 29,000 publicly available charging devices including over 5,100 rapid devices in the country. In London there are so far 11,000.
As well as announcing the £381m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund, the Government said it would provide an additional £15m for the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme (ORCS) to increase “EV infrastructure in every area”.
It said the changes would ensure the UK’s charging network “can support the increasing number of EV drivers and those considering the switch”.
The Government has said it will end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, with all new cars and vans fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035.
As part of the Government’s plans, car makers will be given targets to sell a proportion of EVs in the coming years.
Although the so-called ZEV mandate has been slightly watered down, green transport campaigners still welcomed the plans for 22 per cent of EVs by 2024, 80 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035.
Quentin Willson, founder of EV campaign group FairCharge, said the group was “delighted that Government has listened to our appeals for a strong ZEV mandate and confirmed the trajectory consultation figures.”
As well as announcing the funding for charging points, the Government also confirmed plans to make them more accessible and reliable.
These included a minimum payment method for all new chargepoints of 8kW and over and industry-led payment roaming to support consumers and fleets with ease of payment. A new body to enforce the new regulations will also be set up.
Other key points in the strategy are:
- Harnessing the “strengths of the City of London”, the UK’s green finance expertise and its ”strong track record” on innovative climate finance to help emerging markets and developing economies to unlock green investment.
- The Great British Insulation Scheme, a rebranded ECO+, will aim to upgrade 300,000 of the nation’s least energy efficient homes to cut bills.
- The announcement of three sites, in Teesside, for capturing carbon produced during the burning of fossil fuels like gas and store them under the North Sea.
- New green hydrogen production projects were confirmed, with £240 million of funding.
- A fresh push for more onshore wind, with greater flexibility in planning, and a focus on speeding up planning for offshore wind and solar.
- The Government will extend the £5000 grant scheme to encourage more households to install heat pumps by two years to 2028.
Mr Shapps admitted he was no eco warrior and that any measures he was taking to make his home greener were in the interests of reducing his bills.
He also said he didn’t yet have a heat pump in his house but said he was looking into it.
Mr Shapps said: “This programme, which is latent, it’s at the beginning. There are technical issues that people are having to deal with in order to meet the switchover”.
“I’m gradually doing things. I’m not sort of some eco-warrior in this. I just want to try and save money on my energy bills like everybody else.”
