Areas in the UK where electric vehicle charging points have SHRUNK
Three out of five local governments are behind schedule in rolling out public electric vehicle charging points – and some have even seen their networks shrink in the past 12 months, according to a new report. .
There are now just over 32,000 public toll collection points across the UK – 268,000 short of the 300,000 ministers said are needed by the end of the decade, the latest Department for Transport data shows.
Analysis of the data shows that local governments need to increase the rate of installation by an average of 32% annually to meet the Government’s 2030 target, with some at risk of falling into ‘shortfalls’ because of reduced number of devices in their region in the last year.
The report shows that among the towns and cities where the number of public chargers has decreased include Canterbury, Luton and Milton-Keynes.
Disclosure: These are the local governments that have reduced their network of public electric vehicle charging points the most in the past 12 months, despite the Government’s call for 300,000 units nationwide by the end of the decade
The latest official records released by the DfT show there were 32,011 public devices across the UK as of July 1.
Of these, 4,974 fast chargers, almost a fifth of the total.
With just 90 months to go to hit its ambitious target of 300,000 chargers, car rental comparison site LeaseLoco – which conducted DfT data analysis – says some local governments have already cut their jobs to meet Government expectations.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT | PUBLIC CHARGING EQUIPMENT IN JULY 2021 | PUBLIC CHARGING EQUIPMENT IN JULY 2022 | PERCENTAGE CHANGES |
---|---|---|---|
Brentwood | 7 | 3 | -57% |
Canterbury | 65 | 48 | -26% |
Dacorum | 23 | 18 | -22% |
Antrim and Newtownabbey | 37 | 32 | -14% |
Forest of Dean | 16 | 14 | -13% |
Central and Eastern Antrim | 28 | 25 | -11% |
Luton | 50 | 45 | -ten% |
Hillingdon | 199 | 180 | -ten% |
harrow | 49 | 45 | -8% |
Fermanagh and Omagh | 38 | 35 | -8% |
Wigan | 42 | 39 | -7% |
Milton Keynes | 364 | 343 | -6% |
Renfrewshire | 71 | sixty seven | -6% |
Eastbourne | 36 | 34 | -6% |
Charnwood | 41 | 39 | -5% |
Ulster middle | 24 | 23 | -4% |
North Somerset | 89 | eighty six | -3% |
Cheltenham | 33 | 32 | -3% |
Ashford | 35 | 34 | -3% |
Caerphilly | 39 | 38 | -3% |
Brighton and Hove | 331 | 323 | -2% |
Belfast | 52 | 51 | -2% |
Source: LeaseLoco analysis of DfT data published July 21, 2022 |
According to its assessment, 228 out of 375 local governments have missed infrastructure growth targets in the past 12 months.
About a quarter expanded their public charging networks by less than 10%, and 12 authorities were unable to add a single charging point throughout the year (July 2021 to July 2022).
Incredibly, 22 local governments appear to have scaled back their charging networks in the previous 12 months.
For example, Canterbury was listed as having 65 EV charging devices in July 2021, but just 45 a year later, that equates to the loss of a quarter of their already limited network.
Luton has seen the number of public chargers in town drop by 10% over the past year, Wigan by 7%, and drivers in Milton Keynes have seen numbers drop by 6%.
Electric vehicle owners in Brentwood have also seen a drop in the number of available chargers from seven to three in the past 12 months, records show.
The report will add fuel to concerns about the stagnant growth of the public charging network, which has not kept pace with the number of electric cars on the road.
Only 1,721 new public chargers were added in the months of April, May and June, DfT records show.
This is down 10% from the first quarter of 2022 and down 30% from the number of installations in the final quarter of 2021.
In the same month from April to June, around 50,775 pure electric cars were registered in the UK, meaning there was a new public charger for every 30 electric vehicles on the move.
Scotland, North West and South East were the worst performing regions in terms of installation growth over the past 12 months.
Although Scotland now has more EV chargers per 100,000 inhabitants (54.7), than England (48.6) and Wales (37.6), the charger network north of the border has grown by just 16.5% in 12 years. past month.
LeaseLoco said while some local governments are lagging, others have ‘drawn a trail’ over the past 12 months.
Seven has more than tripled their charger network size since July 2021.
East Hertfordshire leads the way, increasing the number of public chargers from 17 to 71 while Dover has expanded its network from 14 to 47.
At a regional level, London – home to the largest amount of electric vehicle ownership – has 40% more public chargers than it did a year ago.
The capital has seen charger installations increase from 7,489 in July 2021 to 10,482 last month.
For example, Canterbury was listed as having 65 EV charging devices in July 2021, but just 45 a year later, that equates to the loss of a quarter of their already limited network. Two electric vehicle charging stations at Wincheap Park and Ride Parking in Canterbury
Westminster County has the highest density of EV chargers in the country, with 522 people per 100,000 inhabitants.
Outside of London, Coventry (132 out of 100k) has the highest concentration of EV scores, followed by Milton Keynes (127 out of 100k), Brighton & Hove (111 out of 100k) and Winchester (91 out of 100k).
Only 1,721 new public chargers were added for the months of April, May and June 2021, according to the latest date announced by DfT
The government has committed to spending £1.6 billion to build a network of 300,000 EV chargers by 2030.
Announcing the new investment in infrastructure in March, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘No matter where you live – be it city center or rural village, north, south, east or west of the country – we are accelerating the transition to electricity and making sure no one is left behind in the process. ‘
However, John Wilmot, chief executive officer of LeaseLoco, said this new analysis once again shows ‘the stark reality that charging infrastructure implementations are not progressing at a fast enough pace in many areas. area’.
The report will add fuel to concerns about the stagnant growth of the public charging network, which has not kept pace with the number of electric cars on the road.
He added: ‘The Government has a huge task if it hopes to meet its target of 300,000 by 2030 and create a charging infrastructure that can cope with the rise in electric vehicle ownership over the decade. next.
‘While home charging will play an important role, there will still be a huge reliance on public charging networks. And the ramifications to local economies of a substandard toll infrastructure can be severe.
‘Also, the public isn’t stupid. They will not be persuaded to switch to electricity anytime soon if they do not believe that the charging infrastructure can meet the demand. And the government will score a big goal when it claims such an ambitious goal and then unfortunately falls short of it. ‘
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