Smart chargepoint mandate coming this year

Legislation this autumn to ensure all private electric vehicle (EV) charging points can operate as smart devices has been promised in the government’s transport decarbonisation plan.

According to the plan, tabled in the House of Commons this afternoon (14 July) by transport secretary of state Grant Shapps, the smart mandate will apply to all domestic and workplace chargepoints. However, it will not cover 50kW-plus rapid chargers.

Ensuring that all new private chargepoints are smart will help to delay or reduce the need for new electricity generation or network infrastructure investment, which would otherwise be required to cater for the additional power demand likely be spurred by the increased roll out of EVs, says the document.

Further details will be outlined in Ofgem’s upcoming 2021 Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan and an EV infrastructure rollout strategy will be published later this year.

The decarbonisation plan says a new £90 million Local EV Infrastructure Fund, opening in 2022, will support efforts by councils to roll out larger on-street charging schemes and rapid charging hubs.

From April next year, the government will shift the focus of its financial support for EV charging infrastructure to supporting leaseholders, renters and those living in flats.

The plan also says the government is consulting on the introduction of a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate on auto-manufacturers.

Under the ZEV mandate, which has been previously recommended by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), motor manufacturers are forced to ensure that a proportion of their output is zero emission. It is modelled on similar ZEV mandates already introduced in US states, like California.

The ZEV mandate is one of a number of measures being considered to help deliver the government’s new target, announced earlier today, that no new internal combustion engine vehicles should be on sale by 2040.

The government has set a phase-out date of 2035, or earlier if a faster transition appears feasible, for the sale of new non-zero emission powered two and three wheelers (and other L category vehicles).

Graeme Cooper, head of future markets at National Grid, said the decarbonisation plan provided a strategy setting out how the phase-out of ICE sales can be achieved.

He said: “Smart charging essentially allows your car to “talk” to the grid, using data to assess the best time for your car to charge. Smart charging will also make the energy system more efficient with the potential to push power into cars when the energy system has spare renewable energy and to pause briefly when the energy system is under higher load or when the power is dirtier and/or more expensive. It’s a cheaper, more energy efficient and sustainable way of charging electric vehicles.”

Mike Thompson, the CCC’s chief economist, said the climate change advisory body was “particularly pleased” that the government has picked up its proposals for ZEV mandate.

He said: “Meeting net zero will require action on demand for transport as well as its supply. As ever, the devil will be in the detail and we look forward to scrutinising the Government’s proposals fully and carefully while we await delivery of other key roadmaps on heating, hydrogen, food, biomass, the Treasury’s Net Zero Review, and the government’s overall Net Zero Strategy.”