Energy UK response to Supercharging the EV Transition

Executive Summary

Energy UK welcomes the Government’s collaboration with industry to support the Electric Vehicle (EV) transition. As outlined below, the scale of the challenge will increase significantly over the next four years, with steep rises in EV targets and increased demand for supporting charging infrastructure.

Continued and coordinated policy support will therefore be essential to maintain momentum and ensure the UK meets its EV targets, namely:

• Remove the 20%, effective ‘no-driveway’, VAT premium on public chargepoints, which unfairly penalises drivers without access to home charging and slows public infrastructure deployment.
• Reduce electricity costs for chargepoint operators by taking some electricity policy costs off non-domestic electricity bills.
• Avoid any further weakening of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate, which is critical to maintaining investor confidence and the UK’s competitive market position.
• Swiftly allocate and strategically deliver the £600 million announced in the Autumn Budget for public charging, ensuring funding reaches priority locations and addresses regional disparities in chargepoint locations.
• Take immediate action to address the significant increase in network charges for EV rapid charging hubs, while progressing the longer-term network charges reforms under Ofgem’s ongoing Cost Allocation and Recovery Review and the anticipated DESNZ Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan to lower bills in the long term.
• Government should publish a near-term strategy for the HGV sector, with policy support to increase the economic viability of transitioning to zero emission road freight.
• Future-proof grid connections for rapid charging along the strategic road network, accounting for anticipated EV growth, including electric HGVs (eHGVs). Targeted funding is still needed where it is not commercially viable for the private sector to invest alone. 
• Undertake detailed modelling of future electricity network requirements to anticipate and plan for the network upgrades needed as fleet electrification accelerates.
• Include electricity within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to provide a market-based mechanism that supports investment in charging infrastructure.
• Explore Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) standards and use cases to ensure emerging technologies can support bidirectional charging and system flexibility.