Failure to join up transport strategy risks ‘decade of regret’

There is a “severe lack of detail” around how vast numbers of new electric vehicles (EVs) will be integrated into the energy system, an industry expert has warned.

Conor Maher-McWilliams, head of flexibility at technology platform Kaluza, told Utility Week that there is a risk of looking back on the next decade with regret if the government’s transport plan is not fully joined up.

The green transport blueprint was released last week and outlined details such as a ban on the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks by 2040.

It added that there would be a new £90 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund, opening in 2022, supporting efforts by councils to roll out larger on-street charging schemes and rapid charging hubs.

Responding to the document, Maher-McWilliams said it was positive to see concrete targets and commitments to invest across a range of areas that will help drive the decarbonisation of transport.

He added: “However, there is still a severe lack of detail around how we are going to integrate all these new electric vehicles in a way that makes the most efficient use of renewables and creates a more resilient energy system.

“We need a plan that creates the best outcomes for consumers so that they become active participants of the transition to zero carbon rather than simply imposing it upon them.”

He said he would like to see details of how things like the 10-point plan commitment to increase offshore renewables to 40GW, as well as proposals around smart EV charging, can align.

He continued: “There’s all of these things which are related to the same system, the same grid, but there isn’t a good picture anywhere of how we plan to put these things together. It’s almost like this transport element has been looked at slightly in isolation of this other trend where we are going to quadruple the amount of offshore wind.

“That’s really the heart of what we want to see – how is this going to work together, what are the things the government want to see, what measures are they going to put in place, where are they going to invest in upgrading the grid so we’ve got more monitoring, that’s the thing that’s severely lacking.

“EV uptake is accelerating, National Grid published its latest scenarios last week and one was 12.4 million EVs on the road in 2030. If we don’t get this right there’s a real chance that we look back on the decade with serious regret because we haven’t got a system that works, that maxmises the potential of the EV to harness that increase in renewable energy.”