The RAC has found that the target for the number of high-powered electric vehicle (EV) charge points near motorways has been missed, with only four in 10 motorway service stations in England meeting the criteria of having at least six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers by 2023. Rapid or ultra-rapid devices are seen as important for making longer journeys, to ensure people are confident they will have sufficient charge for the trip and that it will be delivered quickly enough if they pull over to top up.
In December, the RAC looked at data from charger locator business Zapmap. It found that 178 additional faster chargers had been installed since April. However, only 46 of 119 sites now had six of these high-powered charging facilities in place. Leicester Forest on the M1, Tebay South on the M6, and Barton Park on the A1 (M), had no charging facilities of any kind.
A government funding scheme aimed at boosting the number of ultra-rapid chargers was announced in November. RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “There is undoubtedly an eagerness among charge point companies and motorway service operators to install these types of units but unfortunately, it’s often the high-power cabling to the grid that’s the major barrier which is out of their hands. More clearly needs to be done to make this process simpler than it is currently.”
The UK’s recently introduced requirements mean that just over a fifth of vehicles sold must be electric, however, Jonathan Goodman, UK head of Swedish EV firm Polestar, has suggested that planning for charging infrastructure needs to be simplified to accelerate the construction of new charging centers as more drivers take up electric vehicles.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport has indicated that the DfT will collect the latest data from motorway service operators early in the New Year
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