Rapid charging rollout stalls

The number of rapid electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints installed in the second quarter of this year slumped to the lowest level since the depths of the first lockdown, according to new government statistics.

The Department for Transport (DfT)’s latest EV charging device update, published earlier this week, says 292 new rapid chargepoints were installed in Q2 2021.

This is the lowest figure recorded in any quarter by the DfT since the three months from April to June 2020, the bulk of the period covered by the first coronavirus lockdown, when just 99 of the rapid chargers were installed.

In the first quarter of this year, which also saw a widespread lockdown, 379 rapid chargers were installed. The DfT’s figures use device locational data produced by EV charging platform Zap-Map.

The slump in rapid charger installations has occurred despite the government’s pledge last year, confirmed in the transport decarbonisation plan, to set a target to install 2,500 high powered chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A roads by 2030.

The government has also said there should be six high-powered EV charge points by 2023 at every motorway service area in England, rising to 12 for larger locations.

The figures also show that 1,584 publicly available chargers of all kinds were installed during the latest quarter, which was slightly higher than the average quarterly rate of 1,505 over the past year.

The highest average per capita rate of EV charger installations is in Westminster where there are 392.4 per 100,000 people. Outside London, the highest installation rate is in Milton Keynes (134.7).

Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for transport, said the new figures showed a gap between Conservative promises to “dramatically” increase the number of fast chargers and actual roll out of the devices.

“Once again the Tories are doing one thing but saying another. They say that by 2030 all new cars sold should be electric, yet they’re doing everything they can to put people off buying electric vehicles. Even the PM’s climate spokesperson says she doesn’t ‘fancy’ owning one,” she said, pointing to comments earlier this week on Times Radio by COP26 spokesperson Allegra Stratton.

Olney said: “For a government all too happy to grandstand about ambitious climate change targets, their record on electric vehicles is frankly embarrassing and tells you all you need to know about how seriously the Tories are taking the climate crisis.

“Liberal Democrats call on the Conservatives to reverse the damage they’ve done by increasing, not cutting, the plug-in car grant and investing in more charging points – particularly rapid chargers in rural areas.”

Zap-Map gets funding for green journey planner

Meanwhile, Zap-Map has been awarded funding to develop a route planner pointing drivers towards the lowest carbon chargepoints.

The company, along with carbon data science company Advanced Infrastructure, has been awarded £540,000 towards the £790,000 Zap-Zero project by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) in partnership with Innovate UK.

Zap-Map’s existing route planner gives drivers the ability to map journeys with charging stops based on their vehicle’s range and charging capability.

The project will see Advanced Infrastructure’s ‘digital twin’ of the UK’s electricity network overlaid on Zap-Map’s database of chargers, providing the carbon intensity data for individual chargepoints based on real-time grid data.

Zap-Map hopes its project will help companies meet their obligations under the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting Act 2018 (SECR).

SECR means all large companies must report the emissions associated with their activities – both direct and indirect – associated with energy consumption.

The SECR asks companies to use location and time-specific data to report on their emissions from electricity consumption however to date there has been a lack of data and tools available to achieve this.

Zap-Map says the dynamic carbon intensity data provided via Zap-Zero will enable EV fleets to optimise their route selection based on emissions and report their footprint as accurately as possible.

The aim is to make it possible for an EV to be powered by purely carbon-free electricity with no offsets and no energy certificates.

Zap-Zero will be developed as part of Zap-Map’s route planner 2.0, expected to launch in early 2022.

Ben Lane, Zap-Map co-founder and chief technology officer, said: “Drivers and fleet managers choose electric because they want to lower their carbon footprint, so how the electricity powering their vehicles is sourced is paramount.

“The integration of Advanced Infrastructure’s data provides that in-depth traceability, driving the footprint of already low-carbon journeys down further still and helping businesses go the extra mile in the detail and transparency of their carbon reporting.”