MPs concerned over regional electric vehicle charging divide

MPs have criticised the Government for the “patchy” public availability of electric vehicle (EV) charge points, with concerns raised over the stark regional divide between London and rest of country.

In a new report, published today (Wednesday, March 12), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) finds Government has been slow to address gaps in charge point provision and calls for delays in the rollout to be addressed. 

It says that approximately a third of the 114 motorway service areas had yet to meet the original ambition of the Department for Transport (DfT) for each to have six ultra-rapid charge points by the end of 2023. 

In 2020, Government announced £950 million to future-proof electricity capacity on strategic roads. 

The PAC’s report finds that nearly five years later, DfT had yet to issue any of this funding.

While the report acknowledges that the Government is on track to reach 300,000 points needed by 2030, it also finds that those installed so far have not been evenly spread across the country.

Too few, it says, have been installed outside of the South-East and London, which currently host 43% of all charge points. 

The report finds that rural areas may continue to be less commercially viable for operators and could require further Government intervention.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, chair of the committee, said: “It is welcome to see the EV charging roll-out beginning to ramp up, with all the implicit benefits that bearing down on emissions will bring. But this roll-out is not currently taking place equally across the nation. Meeting numerical targets for charging points is all very well. 

“Delivering thousands of points allowing Londoners to easily zip around the capital while leaving the rest of the UK’s network patchy is obviously an outcome to be avoided. 

“Drivers need confidence that they can use an EV without any risk of getting stranded, or they won’t make the switch.

It is imperative that the motorway network has a complete range of charging points as soon as possible to provide some confidence to drivers who wish to travel about the entire country.”

As well as this stark regional divide, the report raises concerns around the impact on drivers with disabilities, those without access to off street parking and disadvantaged groups. 

The interests of disabled drivers have been left behind in the rollout, with no charge points in the UK currently fully compliant with accessibility standards which DfT itself helped to create, the committee of MPs says. 

The report also notes that drivers with no option but to rely on public charge points, in particular those without access to off-street parking, pay significantly more for charging due to higher VAT rates (typically 20% compared to 5%). 

Should these impacts not be remedied, it says that different and sometimes disadvantaged groups will face inequalities in the cost of driving.

Clifton-Brown continued: “It is also of deep concern that the needs of disabled drivers are being ignored. Not a single charge point in the country is currently fully accessible. 

“We are risking baking a serious injustice into the fabric of a major part of our national infrastructure. Government similarly needs to understand how to remedy financial inequalities for those who have no choice but to use public charge points. 

“Our report therefore challenges the Government – it must move at pace to overcome current delays and encourage take-up, while taking the time to ensure no-one gets left behind in this all-important shift to the future.”

The report also highlights delays in the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) programme designed to support local authorities in England to install charge points where they are most needed. 

Only 10 out of 78 installation projects had been approved for delivery as of October 2024, against a March 2025 deadline. 

These delays, says the report, have meant that many local authorities will be procuring for projects at similar times, posing the risk that the market may not have the capacity to serve them all.

However, DfT previously told Fleet News that all of the £381m LEVI fund has now been allocated, with local authorities going to tender and starting to roll out the chargers.

The UK currently has more than 75,000 EV charge points available on the public network, according to Zapmap. This is a 32% year-on-year increase compared to February 2024, when 57,290 devices were reported. 

The report highlights how different areas will have very different needs depending on local differences, for example in how much off-street parking is available for private charge points or whether an area attracts large numbers of seasonal tourists.  

However, it says that the DfT’s current measure of the number of ‘charge points per head’ in each region does not reflect these variations and what is required in the future. 

The report makes a series of recommendations to DfT, including that it should set out how it identifies and assesses sub-regional variability in public charge point need, and how it might use this to see where intervention is needed in future.

It also wants the DfT to write to the committee within six months setting out the steps it is taking to address gaps in ultra-rapid charge point provision across the strategic road network, particularly at motorway service areas.

The committee's report comes the day after the Government published plans to replace street works licences with permits to accelerate the rollout of EV charge points and make it easier, cheaper and faster to install on public roads and streets.  

It is one of a series of measures included in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which also reveals plans to cut the wait for new grid connections by up to seven years and speeding up the construction of new energy infrastructure with targeted reforms to push through planning decisions faster.

Cllr Adam Hug, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), said: “As this report confirms, there is much more to be done in ensuring wider availability of the charging network and the Government’s ongoing investment into local authority capability is helpful.

“There are many factors for councils to consider on public charge points, such as demand for road space, power supply availability, demand for EVs and resources available.

“Sufficient and long-term Government funding is vital for councils to maintain progress on the rollout, especially against the significant pressures on statutory council services.”