New figures show that the government has failed to meet its target to have at least six high-power electric car chargers at every motorway service station across the UK.
The government originally published these targets in March 2022 as it aimed to accelerate the roll-out of high-power chargers, deemed to deliver 50kW of power or more. These units are therefore the quickest and most convenient way of charging an electric car during a journey.
According to the RAC, which analysed information on electric car charging navigation Zapmap, just 46 of the 119 (39 per cent) motorway services across the UK have met this target.
The RAC says that since April 2023, a further 178 high-powered EV chargers have been installed at motorways, and there are now more than 400 ‘ultra-rapid chargers’ (which deliver more than 100kW of power) across the UK’s service areas, equating to 55 per cent of motorway services now offering this fastest form of charging.
However, there are still 14 motorway services that have no rapid charging above 50kW (which would take around an hour to charge a typical EV) and more worryingly four motorway services offer no charging at all. These include Leicester Forest on both sides of the M1, as well as Tebay South on the M6 and Barton Park on the A1(M)
According to the RAC, 70 per cent of all motorway chargers are now delivering more than 100kW of power, with 14 services in England now having more than 12 chargers. Exeter services on the M5 have the most high-powered chargers, with 24 devices. There are said to be an average of 4.9 devices across the 119 motorway services, an increase from 3.4 in April 2023.
According to Zapmap’s data, there are now 53,029 chargers in the UK, with 9,992 of these being rapid or ultra-rapid units. However, according to the RAC, only 581 of these quicker chargers are located at motorway services.
The government aims to have 300,000 public electric car chargers as a minimum by 2030, at which point it hopes 80 per cent of new cars will be electric under the zero-emissions vehicle mandate.
According to the regulator Competition and Markets Authority, it expects that at least 280,000 to 480,000 public charging points will be needed by 2030 to cater for the increasing demand for electric cars.
RAC EV spokesperson Simon Williams said: “It’s clear from our research that the Government has fallen well short of its target of having six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England.
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.
“We continue to believe that the wide availability of ultra-rapid charging is crucial in giving both current and future EV drivers confidence to know they can easily make journeys beyond the range of their vehicles in a time-efficient way.”