New law to make EV charging network 99% reliable

The UK’s electric vehicle rapid charging network will be required to have a 99% reliability rate under new laws coming in later this year.

This is aimed at eradicating range anxiety and creating a “world-class” charging grid. The legislation also includes a £1.6 billion investment in 300,000 new charge points across the country, which, the government says, would be five times as many traditional fuel pumps currently in operation. These will be operational by 2030 and spread across the country, it promises.

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: “We’ve committed £1.6bn to support the rollout of charge points across the UK and, as part of our recently published EV Infrastructure Strategy, we will set new legal requirements to improve reliability at public charge points.”

The number of EV public chargers in the UK has risen by 33% since this time last year, with 30,290 now in operation. This data, sourced by mapping provider Zap Map and published by the DfT, showed that around 7500 new devices have been installed in the past year – 1915 in the past three months alone.

Broken down, the figures show that Northern Ireland has the fewest chargers, with just 18 per 100,000. London has the most chargers, with 111 per 100,000 people.

The figures also found what percentage of those were rapid chargers, with Scotland recording 13.6 per 100,000, and Northern Ireland just 1.3. On a more local level, the north-west of England has 5.9 per 100,000, while the north-east has 9.4.