The number of electric-vehicle charging points will reach 300,000 by 2030 under government plans, but many prominent motoring groups have complained the roll out is not fast enough.
The Department for Transport has said that by the end of this decade, the number of charge points could be the equivalent of almost five times the number of fuel pumps on UK roads today.
However, Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, tasked with advising the government on major infrastructure, highlighted there was a gap emerging between the government’s aspirations on net zero policy and the actions taken to realistically achieve it. He said: “We need to turbo-charge the roll out of electric-vehicle charging points, accelerating the installation of both rapid and slower on-street charging facilities so that the 2030 deadline remains viable.”
The RAC’s head of policy, Nicholas Lyes, has warned that the installation timescale of 300,000 charge points needs be quicker in expectation of droves of drivers who will switch to electric ahead of the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030.
Between 2011 and 2021, the amount of charge points in the UK increased from 1,500 to more than 48,000, including both public and private points, according to figures from industry regulators.