Nearly £1 billion which was set to help develop the UK’s electric charging network has still not been allocated.
The fund was intended to be open for application in winter 2022, then this was pushed back to spring 2023 and then summer, however The Guardian newspaper has reported that it is still not open.
The initial plan for the £950 million fund was to help roll out a network of electric vehicle chargers to reduce range anxiety for the cars.
By 2030, the government’s stated aim is to have around 2,500 high-powered and open-access chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A roads, with around 6,000 high-powered open access chargepoints.
In addition, by 2035 the government said it would have at least 6,000 high powered open access charge points across the England’s motorways and A roads.
the plug-in motorbike grant was scaled in back in 2021), electric HGVs experienced a boom – with a record 46 of the vehicles registered in July.
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Electric vans also saw growth, with the number of vehicles registered increasing by 95% in July. The vehicles now make up 6% of the UK van
Last week, RAC head of policy Simon Williams told The Guardian newspaper: “It’s very disappointing that the rapid charging fund is still not open for business”.
“In May the RAC found that less than quarter of 119 motorway services had the prescribed number of chargers, so it seems unlikely there will have been enough progress to get anywhere near this target”.
The news follows the Prime Minister’s decision to push back on net zero policies, including pushing back the proposed ban on sales of non electric vehicles from 2030 to 2035.
The move was met with criticism by members of the car industry as well as manufacturers of electric charging points.
Earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata announced a £4 billion deal for an electric vehicle batter factory, which it was hoped would help bolster jobs and push forward the UK switch to electric vehicles.
Summer sales of electric vehicles have risen, and it is now anticipated that consumers could phase out petrol and diesel vehicles ahead of the government’s target.
