From 29 May, substations built to support ultra-rapid charging hubs will be Permitted Development in a change set to save resources, cost and time.
Permitted development rights derive from a general planning permission granted by the government, as opposed to a local authority, and mean certain types of work (typically by a homeowner on their property) do not require a planning application.
In Scotland, it is already the case that a substation supplying an EV charging hub does not need a separate planning application.
The legislation to follow suit in England was laid in parliament this week, following extensive consultation with industry members from Osprey Charging Network, trade association for chargepoint operators (CPOs) ChargeUK and public charging provider ubitricity.
According to a LinkedIn post, Osprey’s operations director Lewis Gardiner worked with ChargeUK’s head of policy Jarrod Birch and Ubicity’s senior partnership manager Mark Cooper to provide the government Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) with examples of charging rollout delays caused by the planning process.
Wales has recently published a consultation that would align it with England on similar planning rights.
The change means that teams working on rolling out high voltage EV charging equipment do not expend additional resources and time managing applications for a supporting substation and corresponding with planning departments. It also arguably serves to reduce the load on local planning authorities.
Developing EV infrastructure will still incur borrowing and construction costs and require a planning application for the charging hubs themselves. Obtaining a grid connection offer remains another key roadblock for developers.
Alongside the planning changes, a call for evidence on planning policy for EV charging infrastructure itself has been launched and Osprey has lodged its intention to push for remaining barriers to be eased.
A call for evidence is also open on the potential benefits of solar carports in the UK as the government seems poised to mandate that car parks over a certain size have solar canopies installed.
Yesterday (14 May) the International Energy Agency (IEA) published its annual Global EV Outlook shows that EV sales exceeded 17 million globally in 2024, putting EVs’ share of the global car market above 20% for the first time.
The IEA notes that in the early stages of electrification, availability of public chargepoints encourages adoption. But a trio of factors – system optimisation as adoption increases, charging speeds getting faster and battery ranges improving – mean the number of chargepoints per vehicle can comfortably decrease.
However, ultra-fast public charging hubs along major travel routes enabling longer trips will remain a key part of supporting infrastructure even as uptake of EVs becomes the norm.
