Half of councils can’t afford to install EV chargers

About half (52 per cent) of local authorities in the UK find electric vehicle (EV) charging points too expensive to install, according to a freedom of information request (FOI).

Despite the Government extending its On-Street Residential Grant Scheme (ORCS), with a further £20 million allocated for local authorities to install EV charge points this financial year, 92 of the 178 respondents to the FOI said cost was the main barrier to deploying EV charge points.

This is likely to be linked to energy network constraints - the second biggest barrier. If there isn’t sufficient electricity supply at a particular location, councils could face eye-wateringly expensive bills from the local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to upgrade the cables and substations. 

Councils also said that they struggle to keep pace with the ‘rapid changes in technology’. 

Luke Osborne, energy solutions advisor at electrotechnical and engineering services trade body ECA, which issued the FOI, said: “Members of our industry are remarkably well placed to help deliver a net zero carbon UK by 2050. 

“But if local councils don’t have the right infrastructure or funding in place within the next few years, all the promises made at COP26 (the United Nations Climate Change summit) will have been simple rhetoric.”

Universal charge point design likely to just "end up in the Design Museum"

The findings come as a leading industry commentator labels a new EV charge point design concept, unveiled during COP26, a waste of time.

The brief for the £200,000 design competition was to create an “iconic, functional public electric vehicle charge point” that could act as “a guide for local authorities and companies who wish to use it”. 

The Government said that it “could become as iconic as the Great British post box, London bus or black cab”. 

Announcing the winners of the competition - the Royal College of Art and PA Consulting, who made a zero price bid (meaning there was no cost to the taxpayer) - the Department for Transport said that the new EV charge point design could be seen on streets across the country from 2022. 

However, HonestJohn.co.uk understands that there are no firm plans for the concept to make it into production next year. 

The Government is currently considering how the new EV design concept might be developed further, potentially with a small scale trial in 'iconic' locations.

Colin Herron, managing director of EV consultancy Zero Carbon Futures, who spent much of his automotive career as an engineer at Nissan, is sceptical that the new EV charge point design will go "anywhere except the Design Museum”.

“It reminds me of the first Elektromotive charge post in Newcastle," he said. "We used to take it to church halls, schools etc. to show people what a charge post was like.

"It got affectionately known as ‘Bob the post’ and it even had its own diary because it went out so much. 

“The last time I saw ‘Bob’ was in a museum in Newcastle and that’s how this will end up - in the Design Museum.” 

Given that the UK already has a network of thousands of EV charge points Herron thinks “the horse has bolted”. 

“The time to create a universal design was more like 2009,” he said. “You can’t expect private sector companies, who have got their own design and their own manufacturing facility, to make this one.

“And even if they were awarded a Government contract you’ve then got to get the charge point operators to use it.”

Herron is also surprised that the charge point has a captive cable i.e. the cable is built into the charge post rather than a driver plugging in their own charging cable.

“I am not aware of any on-street AC charge posts that have their own cable, only high power chargers have got captive cables,” Herron said. 

He believes that could make it easier to vandalise. 

The new EV charge point design also isn’t technically 'fully accessible' for disabled motorists, although the Royal College of Art and PA Consulting worked with organisations like Motability and the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers, as well as carrying out testing with consumers with accessibility needs, with positive feedback. 

However, no charge point in the UK could be considered ‘fully accessible’, as the British Standards Institution (BSI) is developing national accessible charging standards, which aren’t due to be completed until next summer. 

>>>The Government has also announced it EV charge points will be mandatory for new homes from 2022