Government looking at how to manage high cost of public charging

With company car and van drivers paying up to 10 times more to charge on the public network than at home, the Government says it wants to improve access to charging.

The average pay-as-you-go price to charge an electric vehicle (EV) on the public charging network in October 2024, according to Zapmap, was 56p per kWh on slow/fast chargers and 80p/kWh for rapid/ultra-rapid chargers.

Drivers with off-road parking enabling them to charge their EV at home can pay as little as 7.5p/kWh and avoid having to pay VAT at 20%.

With four-in-10 homes not having any form of dedicated off-street parking, this so-called ‘pavement tax’ means many drivers wanting to switch to electric are being deterred, and it is proving a stumbling block for the wider electrification of car and van fleets.

Appearing before the Transport Committee on Wednesday (November 13), transport secretary Louise Haigh told MPs: “We are looking at ways to provide more transparency across pricing and oversee the massive differentials.” 

She added: “The access to charging is obviously one of the biggest barriers, at least in perception, if not in reality, for people making the transition to electric vehicles. 

“We have already passed the milestone of over 70,000 publicly available EV charging devices in the UK, but I am very conscious that there is regional inequality of where those charging devices are. 

“There are obviously significant numbers in in London compared to the rest of the country, so we are pushing forward with the Levi (Local EV Infrastructure) fund, which will support local government to provide public charging infrastructure.”

The Transport Committee also heard from the Department for Transport (DfT) that the Government would soon be publishing its response to a consultation launched earlier this year, which aimed to improve accessibility to charging solutions for EV drivers without off-road parking.    

Jo Shanmugalingam, second permanent secretary at the DfT, said that the Government’s response will be published “shortly”.

Asif Ghafoor, CEO of BeEV, says it is about time that the difference in VAT between public and off-street charging is addressed.

He estimates that 6.6 million houses in the UK don’t have access to driveways. He asked: “Why is it that they have to pay substantially more for EV charging than those with the luxury of space on their properties?

“There needs to be serious energy market reform – we currently pay among the highest prices for our energy in Europe as we’re pegged to high, unpredictable gas prices.

“This archaic system is making everything more expensive for us all, and with new waves of renewable energy projects coming online – it's time for change.” 

He added: “District Network Operators (DNOs) also take far too long to approve new projects. We’ve had cases before where it’s taken us 18 months from first contact to actually getting chargers in the ground – this cost and delay ultimately adds to the price of charging for everyone.

“The red tape needs to be cut and they need more resources to speed this up.”