Chargepoints must now have a 99% reliability standard as rules from the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 come into effect this month.
Announced by the Department for Transport on 11 July, the Regulations states the reliability requirement for electric vehicle (EV) charging as: “the network of rapid charge is, on average, reliable for 99% of the time during each calendar year.”
The Regulation is set to come into effect “on the 22nd day after the day on which they are made” and will cover England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Once launched, service providers will also be required to publish publicly-available reliability data on their chargepoints.
Moreover, payment for all charging transactions will be unified on a single app and public chargepoints surpassing 8kW must provide contactless payment options.
This measures are aimed to improve chargepoint experience and tackle the shadow of chargepoint reliability which looms over the UK EV sector, as discussed in a Current± webinar earlier this year.
“While the transition to electrification continues to accelerate, legislation will prove pivotal to maintaining momentum. Data from Zap-Map suggests that there are now more than 44,000 public chargers operational across 25,521 UK locations (more than 20% of which are classified as either rapid or ultra-rapid), yet reliability is still proving a real concern,” said Jordan Brompton, co-founder and CMO of chargepoint manufacturer, myenergi.
“Putting stringent legislation behind availability and payment process should therefore be welcomed with open arms. As an industry, we need to make it easier and far more attractive for drivers to make the switch to electric – not give them more reasons to delay. Hopefully, moving forward, these barriers will fall quickly, just as they did with range anxiety.”
The Department of Transport also has a target of 300,000 chargepoints in the UK by 2030, which will both increase the importance and the scale of the new reliability regulations.
RECHARGE UK warned that the lack of qualified EV professionals will slow the transition down. To remedy this the EV charging infrastructure company suggested a reform to the Apprenticeship Levy to make sure unspent funds are put towards priority training areas, including electrification and decarbonisation.
Current± publisher Solar Media is hosting its EV World Congress event in London this 10-11 October. The conference will focus on some of the key discussion points from across the EV sector including delivering coherent EV charging strategies, whether the UK is on course for its 2030 charging target, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology and more. More information, including how to attend, can be read here.
