On a panel at the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and Energy Summit in London, Energy UK’s deputy director of policy, Charles Wood, spoke with Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO of Zapmap, and Matthew Adams, transport policy manager at the Renewable Energy Association (REA).
Chaired by Alec Peachey, founder and editorial director of online publication Transport and Energy, panellists looked to the future. For Shufflebotham, the EV sector will have established much of the technology that is currently “well on the way”; high-power and on-route charging will become very much the norm by 2030.
An interesting area will be on-street charging, Shufflebotham said, adding that she is “fascinated to see” how alternative base charging plays out. In terms of private charging, “the game-changer with EVs is how they act as a gateway to decarbonising the whole home”.
Adams picked this up, stating that he sees consumer engagement increasing significantly towards 2030 with active participation in demand flexibility. Consumers will look to how they can save and make money charging their EVs, with bidirectional and smart charging technology playing a big role in the energy side to mitigate curtailment, particularly, Adams said, in the fleet sector.
Wood pointed out that major questions remain about the approach to transport, with the toss-up between ownership and leasing and the emergence of automated vehicles likely to impact charging changes before 2030. What is critical, he said, is connectivity and data.
Data utilisation will inform chargepoint locations, implementing chargers where they are useful based on modalities and transport patterns. The same will have to happen for larger-scale transport, too. Between now and 2030, the focus will have to shift from passenger vehicles and vans to trucks and heavy goods vehicles.
Government policy will, therefore, play an important part in ensuring an effective EV charging system across the UK by 2030.
Government actions to support EV rollout
Adams said that, in terms of quick wins, the continuation of governmental mandates that local authorities have charging plans will see effective rollout. Further, as Labour promised in its manifesto, a changed planning system to enable chargepoint installation would be a quick route to chargepoint operator (CPO) savings: “Section 50s currently cost CPOs about £1000 a job”.
Shufflebotham added that more clarity on the restoration—or not—of the ban on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is needed.
Charles Wood commented: “After a decade of piecemeal approach to policy, it’s about having a holistic approach, someone in the cabinet office who’s willing to drive forward approach and tie up loose ends.”
The two key areas of focus, he said, are “pace of change and doing it holistically”.
Shufflebotham did point out the importance of the zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate: “No one is disputing that the EV revolution is here. Once you start taking your foot off the pedal it is really problematic.”
The panel also addressed the second-hand car market: consumer demand at the moment has mainly come through salary sacrifice schemes, but moving forward, there is a need for a strong secondhand market to continue the uptake of EVs, building consumer and manufacturer confidence in the longevity of the sector.
There is demand for a second-hand market, with increasing numbers of EVs entering the used car market: figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that Q1 sales of used EVs increased by 71% to 41,505.
