Urgent warning for EV drivers as majority of UK councils have no roadside chargers – don’t get caught out
ELECTRIC vehicle (EV) drivers have been issued an urgent warning after it emerged that the majority of UK council areas have no roadside chargers.
More than two-thirds of local authorities have failed to install residential charging infrastructure, leaving motorists in danger of being caught out.
A study from popular manufacturer Vauxhall found that 69% of councils have no on-street charging stations in their jurisdictions, while over 70% have no published strategy to introduce them.
Of those surveyed, 45% said they had no plans to address this shortfall before the end of the year.
Likewise, a new map revealed that the number of charging points has increased rapidly in recent months, but some parts of the country are yet to be brought onto the grid.
As of July this year, there were 44,020 charging spaces across the UK, compared to just 24,374 in July 2021.
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Yet large areas of Somerset, Cumbria and Yorkshire are complete blackspots for EV charging.
This means that drivers in those areas have to rely on residential charging points, which can be expensive to install and run privately.
Toddington Harper, CEO of sustainable energy company Gridserve, told Autocar: "Almost every issue of speed of implementation is down to the speed of grid connections.
"I’m not kicking the grid here. It was designed for a completely different purpose and adapting it to what we need, while keeping the lights on, is a huge task.
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"But we can often be delayed by months or more waiting for a connection. The process you have to go through is hard at best and infuriating at worst."
Vauxhall managing director James Taylor added: "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."
Lack of chargers and "range anxiety" are often cited as among the most common complaints EV owners have about their vehicles.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "The number of public charge points rose by 38% over the last year – a rate that puts us well on the way to 300,000 by 2030 – and we continue to work with industry and local authorities to accelerate this."
It comes after a car expert explained how driving the new Porsche proved to him that EVs are not the future.
Meanwhile, electric car owners were given another warning after a serious security problem was revealed.