Ofgem to invest £300m into UK charging infrastructure
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has announced a major infrastructure project which will ‘rewire Britain’.
The £300million project will install the cabling needed to power 1,800 new ultra-rapid charge points at motorway service areas and key trunk road locations across the UK.
For the UK to make the transition from conventionally powered vehicles to electric vehicles, massive upgrades are needed to support the extra demand.
The project will be delivered in the next two years.
Current Stats
- 15,000 charging locations
- 4,435 rapid charging devices (including ultra-rapid) across the UK
- 944 ultra-rapid charging devices – 322 of these ultra-rapid devices are found at motorway service areas, with 270 belonging to the Tesla Supercharger network and 52 are ultra-rapid, non-Tesla devices
- 596 of these located at motorway service areas
Overcoming Resistance
Ofgem research has found that 36% of households that do not intend to get an electric vehicle are put off making the switch because of a lack of charging points near their home. The new 1,800 charging devices enabled by today’s announcement would represent a growth of 40% in rapid charging devices. This would go along way in combating ‘range anxiety’.
Comment
Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, said:
“This £300 million down payment is just the start of building back a greener energy network, which will see well over £40 billion of investment in Britain’s energy networks in the next seven years.
“The payment will support the rapid take up of electric vehicles which will be vital if Britain is to hit its climate change targets. Drivers need to be confident that they can charge their car quickly when they need to. We’re paving the way for the installation of 1,800 ultra-rapid charge points, tripling the number of these public charge points. Drivers will have more charging options for longer journeys.”
“In the year that Glasgow hosts the COP26 climate summit, the energy networks are rising to the challenge and working with us and partners to accelerate projects that can start now, benefiting consumers, boosting the economy and creating jobs,” Brearley continued.
Rachel Maclean, Transport Minister, commented:
“I warmly welcome today’s news from Ofgem, which will greatly improve the resilience of our charging network as we build back greener.
“With more than 500,000 electric cars now on UK roads, this will help to increase this number even further as drivers continue to make the switch to cleaner, greener vehicles.”
How Can Cambrian Help?
As a part of our comprehensive fuel card portfolio, we offer the Shell Electric Vehicle Card.
The Shell EV card offers:
- Access to over 3,000 charge points in the UK
- Over 950 rapid charge points including Shell Recharge and Ionity network with ultra high-power charging (350 kWh)
- Shell Recharge rapid chargers (50 kWh and 150 kWh) at Shell sites, powered by 100% renewable energy sources
- 17 charging network partners through Shell New Motion interoperability agreements
- Access to 3800 conventional fuel sites
To find out more go to https://www.cambriancards.com/shell-electric-vehicle-card/
Cambrian committed combating climate change by becoming a climate positive workforce. We have signed up with Ecologi to neutralize our carbon emissions and become a more socially responsible company. Ecologi invests into projects that plant trees and support renewable energy initiatives. Every month 130 trees are planted on behalf of our company every month which reduces our carbon footprint by 11.67 tonnes.
Useful Links
Ofgem announcement – https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-delivers-300-million-down-payment-rewire-britain
zapmap – https://www.zap-map.com/
Ofgem to invest £300m into UK charging infrastructure