The majority of UK local councils have not got plans in place to help motorists charge electric cars if they don’t have off-street parking.
Around 25% of homes in the UK don’t have off-street parking and, despite this amounting to almost seven million households, key decisions makers at both national and local levels seemingly aren’t bothered about helping them switch to electric vehicles as the majority don’t have plans in place to cater for home charging.
Vauxhall is one of a number of manufacturers who have been growing increasingly frustrated by this as the government languishes significantly behind where it needs to be on the installation of electric infrastructure.
Around 45,000 public chargers are available to use today and the goal is to have 300,000 by 2030 but only 10,000 have been added to the network in the last 12 months.
Vauxhall reached out to all 414 local authorities and received responses from 289 and 72% of these councils lack a published plan for enhancing residential charging for homes without dedicated parking.
Even though government funds are available, only 69% of councils across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have set up on-street charging points.
Currently, the UK has 17,047 residential on-street chargers, with a significant portion (12,708) concentrated in London.
This leaves only 4,339 chargers distributed across the rest of the country.
Without a boost to residential charging, Vauxhall said that 'those without driveways risk being left behind in the journey to electric'.
Vauxhall – which will offer a fully electric version of every car and van model in its line-up from 2024 and will only sell electric vehicles in the UK by 2028.
James Taylor, managing director at Vauxhall, said: 'Accessibility to charge points near your home is critical to the transition to electric vehicle ownership in the UK.
'We want to galvanise the needs and interests of everyone, from the public, to the councils and the charging operators to make sure that anyone without a driveway is part of that journey.
'We want to help educate and inform the decision-makers, and enable the installation of more chargers, more quickly.'
Quentin Willson, founder of EV campaign group FairCharge, added: ‘The UK needs thousands of local charging hubs to encourage EV uptake among the population without driveways who can’t charge at home. The Government needs to get a grip on this.’
