Spending watchdog finds chargepoint roll-out on track

National Audit Office flags up planning and grid connections as obstacles to be overcome

Public electric vehicle chargepoint installations are currently on track to meet the minimum 300,000 needed across the UK by 2030, but government faces challenges to address the location of chargepoints, their accessibility and planning rules, according to a new National Audit Office (NAO) report.

The report by the Comptroller and Auditor General – Public chargepoints for electric vehicles – also flags up wider barriers to chargepoint installation that are hindering progress, such as the cost and time needed to receive planning permissions and electricity grid connections.

As of July 2024, 64,632 electric vehicle chargepoints had been installed. This is in line with projections made by the Department for Transport (DfT), through the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV), a team working across government supporting the transition away from petrol and diesel. DfT anticipates that its local chargepoint programme and continued growth in private installations will support the trajectory needed to reach 300,000 by 2030.

While the overall number of chargepoint installations is on track, the estimate does not account for where chargepoints should be installed. This has created a regional divide; 44% of public chargepoints in the UK have been installed in London and the South East, while only 15% of chargepoints in England are in rural areas. London has more chargepoints installed per capita than any other region.

DfT established the local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI) programme to support local authorities in rolling out chargepoints, a £450m fund running between 2022-23 and March 2025. Through LEVI, DFT is supporting more local authorities to install chargepoints, and currently forecasts the programme will install of at least 100,000 chargepoints. But the programme has faced delays, owing to local authority plans taking longer to develop than DfT expected and an established procurement route proving no longer feasible. Consequently, local authorities may need further government support beyond the current programme end date.

The location of chargepoints is also an issue along the strategic road network: motorways and major A-roads. Whilst the number of rapid and ultra-rapid chargepoints installed along the strategic road network has exceeded DfT’s expectations, there are stretches of A-roads which don’t have sufficient chargepoints. In 2020, the government announced an aim for six ultra-rapid chargepoints at every motorway service area in England by 2023, anticipating that the private sector would be able to achieve this. As of July 2024, 62% of service areas have met this.

The NAO says the UK’s chargepoint roll-out is being hindered because it is slower and more expensive than it needs to be for chargepoint operators to get planning permissions and electricity grid connections. In response, government is working with stakeholders to streamline planning and connection processes where possible, and is considering more fundamental reform, including looking at rules around highway consents and gaining landowner permissions for development.

Consumers have numerous concerns over using public chargepoints, which government has put in place regulation to address, says the NAO. These concerns include complexity in using chargepoints, with operators having different ways to pay; pricing being unclear or unduly expensive; and malfunctioning or inoperative chargepoints. It is still too early to say whether OZEV’s regulatory intervention has helped, as many of its requirements only came into force from November 2024.

Drivers with disabilities have been left behind in the roll-out to date; many chargepoints – and their surrounding environments – have features that make them inaccessible. These include chargepoints placed on kerbs, with nearby obstructions, or those closely spaced together, presenting difficulties for wheelchair users. DfT said in its 2018 inclusive transport strategy that the Equality Act 2010 was applicable to the provision of chargepoints, and co-sponsored the creation of a standard which specifies minimum requirements for chargepoint accessibility. However, industry and local authorities have reported further clarity is needed on compliance with this standard, and DfT has established a technical group to address these issues.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Government’s estimate of the 300,000 public electric vehicle chargepoints needed by 2030 appears achievable, although there is more to do to ensure adequate coverage in all parts of the country. Government is using regulation to improve the user experience of public chargepoints and needs to address access for people with disabilities.”

Recommendations

The NAO says the Department for Transport should:

• consider whether developing regional demand forecasts, and demand forecasts differentiating between urban and rural locations, would aid the roll-out of public chargepoints
• develop a set of strategic principles for intervention, to guide its design of future interventions where chargepoint demand may not be addressed by its existing programmes
• work with local authorities, and the central support body it established to help them, to develop a plan for how to sustain the capability built through the LEVI programme after it ends
• develop a monitoring framework for the open data it collects through the Public Charge Point Regulations, so that it can understand emerging consumer and operator issues in the chargepoint market, including where regional variations may emerge
• ensure that a clear understanding of what constitutes compliance to the chargepoint accessibility standard is determined, so that industry and local authorities can incorporate it into future installations.

Responses

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the House of Commons Public Account Committee: “While good progress has been made on the roll-out of public charging points for electric vehicles, there is still significant variation in their availability across the country. Issues with planning permissions and electricity grid connections are acting as roadblocks to further progress. If the government is serious about encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles, it must ensure the public can reach reliable, convenient and accessible charging points.”

Vicky Read, chief executive of chathepoint provider body ChargeUK, said: “This is yet more evidence that ChargeUK members are delivering for the UK. The NAO report backs up the research in our own White Paper that found that we are on track to deliver over 300,000 public charge points by 2030.

“A new chargepoint is added to the network every 25 minutes on average. We are delivering at the scale and pace necessary to support the transition to electric vehicles. Now the challenge is to stay on track, and for that to happen government must pay heed to the recommendations in this report and tackle the remaining barriers holding us back from going even further and faster.

“Planning permission and grid connections need to be simpler and faster. And we would like to see the Local EV Infrastructure scheme get going at pace to facilitate the vital roll out in all parts of the UK. Finally, speculation over the ZEV mandate must stop. Government must publicly recommit to the rules as they stand and resist pressure to meddle in order to maintain a healthy flow of investment into our sector, so we can keep delivering the charging that the UK needs.”

Matt Adams, Transport Policy Manager for renewable energy assocation RECHARGE UK, said: “The news today from the National Audit Office that we are on track to hit the government’s target of 300,000 charge points by 2030 should add extra confidence that wherever you are, charging infrastructure has been or soon will be built for you.”

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO, Zapmap, said: “Zapmap's latest annual survey showed that 61% of EV drivers think the charging network has improved, but there were still concerns as have been identified in this latest report.  

“Over the past couple of years there has been a significant leap forward in the number of chargepoints available to EV drivers, particularly the crucial ultra-rapid chargers and charging hubs to support EV drivers on longer journeys. These are quite well-spread across the country too whilst the slower local chargers, important for drivers who can’t charge at home, is where we see the issue of geographical concentration.

“Having access to charging at a local level is essential for an equitable transition to electric vehicles and the LEVI fund has been put in place to help deliver this, but as the NAO has identified delays remain. The UK’s EV charging network has seen transformational growth, but more still needs to be done to ensure it is fairer for drivers regardless of where they live."

Taking Charge

In 2022, Department for Transport (DfT) published Taking charge: the electric vehicle infrastructure strategy, which set out its vision to remove charging infrastructure as a barrier to the adoption of electric vehicles, estimating that a minimum of 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030 would be needed to meet this. DfT identified that its role was to accelerate a nationwide rollout of public chargepoints and remove barriers to uptake. The strategy set out a series of commitments to achieve this, including allocating £1.5 billion to two key areas of government intervention where the market alone was unlikely to produce the outcome wanted.

• Local chargepoints so that people can charge their vehicle near where they live, typically using slower chargepoints overnight. DfT established a £450m programme – the local electric vehicle infrastructure (LEVI) fund – to part-fund and support local authorities in England in this work. This built on its previous on-street residential charging scheme which awarded £84m of grants to local authorities between 2017 and 2024.
• Rapid charging on motorways and major A-roads (the strategic road network) so that people can charge vehicles on longer journeys. The government needs to ensure that there is sufficient electricity capacity to support the roll-out of rapid public chargepoints. In 2020, the government committed to set up a rapid charging fund to part-fund the capital costs of future-proofing electricity connections along the strategic road network, later announcing £950m for this.