EV Charging Point Target Missed

Just four in 10 service stations offer six or more rapid or ultra-rapid chargers, far below the government target for the end of 2023.

The initial desire was to have all service stations with the capability to offer these charging points but that hasn’t been achieved, with approximately 40% meeting the criteria according to RAC research.

Aware of the slower-than-anticipated installation process, the government introduced a funding scheme aimed at boosting the number of ultra-rapid chargers in November.

The use of these devices is designed to increase confidence among motorists that the charging network will be able to support longer journeys in electric vehicles, with a rapid charger adding approximately 100 miles of range in around 35 minutes of charging.

Just 46 of 119 sites now had six of these points at their facilities, with Leicester Forest and Barton Park having no charging facilities of any kind in place.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams told the BBC; “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 sluggish roll-out comes after the government pushed a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars back by five years to 2035.

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