EV charge points mandatory for new homes from 2022
The Government will introduce new legislation in 2022 to make electric charge points mandatory for new homes, supermarkets and workplaces in England.
The law is being introduced ahead of the Government’s ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans in 2030.
It will mean up to 145,000 extra charge points will be installed across England each year, the Government said.
There are currently about 27,000 public charge points and forecasts suggest ten times this amount will be needed by 2030.
The new regulation will apply to any new flat or house with an associated parking space, with the costs expected to be picked up by the construction company.
However, if a new charge point costs more than £3,600 to connect to the grid then the regulation will not apply.
It will also not apply to enclosed parking spaces - locations where there are limited access points and multiple cars may be parked next to each other, which may need careful consideration by the property developer and/or property owners due to fire safety regulations. Garages are not part of this exemption.
As well as new homes and non-residential buildings, buildings undergoing largescale renovations with more than 10 parking spaces will be required to install electric vehicle (EV) charge points.
Regulations mean that the new charging points will be smart charges so vehicles are charged at off peak times to manage electricity supply.
RAC director of EVs Sarah Winward-Kotecha said that the move would give future homeowners "the confidence they’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of a fully-charged car before they leave the house", while the commitment to workplace charging would also help those without home charging facilities.
However, she added: "It’s important to remember that a lot of new housing stock – especially in cities – doesn’t even come with any car parking at all, let alone provision for electric charge points.
"It’s for this reason that the RAC continues to call for the installation of rapid charging hubs to also be a priority."
She said that by supplementing points already installed in places like forecourts and supermarkets with rapid chargers, drivers without off-road parking "will have a realistic opportunity to go electric", and give those needing to recharge on longer journeys greater flexibility to do so.
“It’s also important that all charge points – particularly at motorway services – are always working," she said. "Unfortunately, we’re increasingly being called out to use our EV Boost technology by drivers who have reached public charge points only to discover they are out-of-order.”
The Government has also announced that it will be introducing contactless payments at all new fast and rapid charge points to make it easier for drivers to pay to charge their cars when travelling.
This was something which the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) called for earlier this year. It said that charging an EV should be "as simple as filling up with petrol and diesel".
Comments
Sarah Tooze
Ghost brokers targeting young drivers via social media
Jaguar causes a stir with new brand identity
Private e-scooters to be made legal on UK roads
XPeng launches in the UK
Car insurance premiums fall again
New Renault Master E-Tech 100% electric now available to order
Collision risk around airports is double the national average
.jpg)
Falkirk Bairn on 23 November 2021
It's all very well having more charging points BUT where is the power needed to come from in the cold months of December, Jan & Feb?The ageing Nuclear plants will close within a few years and the 2 remaining Coal stations are currently needed to maintain supply today!
It is not even cold weather for November.
hissingsid on 23 November 2021
What is meant by "The new regulation......will not apply to enclosed parking spaces due to fire safety regulations"? A domestic garage, the obvious place to install a charging point, is an enclosed parking space.Very old person on 23 November 2021
Unless some drastic changes are made to the production side of the supply of electricity it’s all a complete waste of time. From past experience the changes will take many years. Size well C has been argued about for 10+ years and it’s still no closer.Very old person on 23 November 2021
Unless something drastic happens to the production side of the electric supply it’s all a waste of time. They’ve been arguing about Sizewell C for 10+ years and still no further forward.daveyjp on 23 November 2021
How is this even news? My local planning authority has required all new houses and other developments to have a charging point for almost 10 years! I suspect they are not alone.
They didn't need new legislation, it was simply added to their planning policies.
Edited by daveyjp on 23/11/2021 at 16:07
wickens001 on 26 November 2021
Its all very well a council saying that in their regulations, but unless they specify at least 7kw chargers, they will be fairly useless. My son recently moved to new house in Somerset (October 21) and now has what the developer said was an EV charger. Although my son doesn't currently have an EV! I do have an EV (Kia e-Niro) so I was intrigued and had a quick look. Unfortunately, what the developer had installed was an EV charger box and associated three pin socket. This probably has all the correct standard of wiring to support 3kw charging without overloading the house circuits, however this level of charge is very slow and would probably take about 24 hours to charge a decent size EV battery. My Kia handbook even states that this type of 3-pin charging should only be used for emergency purposes only!! If my son decided eventually to move to EV motoring, then he would need to replace this unit with something far more practical for modern life with an EV! P.S. I tried the Tesco free EV chargers near here and they ran at 3.2kw, this provided me with a virtually useless 7 miles after a 1.5hrs shopping trip. I certainly wouldn't bother with that 'free' service again.
Engineer Andy on 24 November 2021
Good luck in them doing this for blocks of flats and houses with 'allocated spaces' that are not part of the legal demise of the property.I suspect, given the extra equipment, wiring and groundworks/access required, this will significantly push up the price of such new homes, because it reduces the amount of available land for other things on developments (including the homes themselves), e.g. communal garden/park areas, which likely have minimum sizes (overall area on the development) written into the planning permission.
Either that or they'll (yet again) make the properties smaller (oh joy).
As someone who lives on a 20yo development of this type,about 90% of the allocated spaces (they make up about 95% of those on the development) do not have the space adjacent to them to install the equipment, and we certainly don't have the funds available to install them even if we did or for those few spaces that do have room.
Norman Bryant on 25 November 2021
The problems on this are enormous, Electricity is not free, the wind farms, Solar Farms do not produce anywhere near enough power, already they want us to us off peak electricity so does that mean that certain charge points will not work during peak times, they need to think outside the box, Electric Vehicles are not the answer, they are fine for local journeys but useless on a long journey.hissingsid on 26 November 2021
The ramifications of the so called electric car revolution extend beyond transport considerations. They also affect people's homes.Spare a thought for those in areas with no mains gas supply, who heat their homes electrically on the off peak Economy 7 tariff. Once many more people charge their electric cars at home overnight there will be no off peak period and no more cheap rate electricity.
James Duffy on 26 November 2021
All the earlier comments are valid but the process of achieving widespread availability of private charging points must begin now as this will be the only way to free up the 'public' charging points for drivers requiring charging on the move because of journey distance or lack of private chargers.Getting the charging fitted in all new homes (and I would suggest in all major building alterations) will minimise the cost and be likely to have a more consistently better quality of installation - provided the charger type and charging rate is appropriate.
I would also suggest that the requirement for chargers will encourage the installation of solar panels as people who can charge their car at home during the day will seek electricity at the lowest possible cost. This would reduce the impact on electricity demand on the Grid and even allow electric vehicle to be used as buffers in the electric network if 'smart' chargers can control the load on the Grid.
Finally, the presence of a charger - provided it is asuitable type and charging rate) will add to a property's value.
Oldboy on 3 December 2021
I have PV panels, producing C 3,400 kWhrs pa. The maximum output is limited by Regulation to 4 kW, and practically nearer 3 kW under best conditions.Strangely most of this production is in Summer, when the sun shines !
PV panels don’t need hot sun, but they do need bright sun for maximum output.
Our next car MIGHT be a Hybrid (before these are killed off ) to take advantage of PV Generation in summer.
P S I my view banning Hybrids is symptomatic of Political technical incompetence. There may never be enough material to produce 300 mile batteries for every car in the world, let alone generating capacity.
Current hybrids are inefficient because they use traditional engines optimised for propulsion across a wide rev range. Using constant speed engines to charge the battery on longer journeys may get efficiency & carbon cost down closer to that of distant large generators with their inherent distribution losses. Batteries could then be much smaller with a range of 50-80 miles covering most journeys, and the in-car on board generator engine providing for longer ranges.
I understand that Mazda are already researching such high efficiency constant speed engines for markets outside the UK
James Duffy on 24 December 2021
For my purposes, I would find the combination of a battery EV with an electric only range of say 40 - 50 miles together with a small petrol motor, acting as backup to get you to a petrol station or charging point, very attractive.A smaller battery would keep the car weight, charging time and purchase cost down and remove the 'range anxiety' issue.
The BMW i3 with Range Extender provides such a combination but would not be versatile enough in it's passenger / luggage carrying capacity.
James Duffy on 24 December 2021
For my purposes, I would find the combination of a battery EV with an electric only range of say 40 - 50 miles together with a small petrol motor, acting as backup to get you to a petrol station or charging point, very attractive.A smaller battery would keep the car weight, charging time and purchase cost down and remove the 'range anxiety' issue. The size of the petrol engine would also only need to be small as it would not need to be capable of high speeds - further reducing the vehicle weight.
The BMW i3 with Range Extender provides such a combination but would not be versatile enough in it's passenger / luggage carrying capacity.
Audrey Santana on 29 October 2024
In response to these challenges, the RAC emphasizes the urgent need for the installation of rapid charging hubs. These hubs would provide accessible charging options for EV owners, particularly in city areas where slope game charging is impractical.Add a comment