Executive Summary
- While progress is being made on EV chargers – such as recent government changes to EV charge point grant schemes – some argue the issue remains one of infrastructure and grid instability
- One way that fleet and freight operators can move amid the grid connection reform challenge is through power purchase agreements and private wires, according to Emma Andrews at Burges Salmon
- Meanwhile Robin Heap, CEO at Zest, notes that the EV charging industry should get its own SIC code as a ‘small but essential step towards a coherent national strategy’
One interesting number was published this week by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) amid its latest industry figures: April saw the two millionth battery electric car registered in the UK, with BEV uptake representing more than a quarter (26.2%) of registrations in the month.
While there is still plenty of progress to be made – the year to date has seen BEVs comprise 23.1% of the overall new car market, which SMMT notes is ‘significantly’ short of the 33% required by the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate – the milestone is a welcome one. The 2027 market, the SMMT reports, is anticipated to have 32% of its total units as BEVs. However, there is a caveat. “Energy, production and charging costs remain high and, as a result, demand has not grown as fast as assumed when the regulation was formulated,” the society notes, adding the Iran conflict adds ‘further uncertainty, the full impact of which is yet to be seen.’
This makes the purported EV infrastructure gap, and what it means for installers and contractors, somewhat delicate to assess. The warnings about the UK’s infrastructure were there. The Financial Times reported that far faster EV charger rollout was required to hit 2030 demand, suggesting the UK has nearly 88,000 charge points when up to half a million would be required by the end of the decade.
Progress has since been made. April saw the UK government roll out changes to EV charge point grant schemes, providing guidance for customers and installers and promising a ‘streamlined, simplified portfolio’. Some, meanwhile, are taking matters into their own hands; back in March, Octopus Energy noted that EV charger sales were up 20% as British households were ‘staging a quiet stand on energy independence.’
But how is the grid coping with this? A City AM article argued that EV chargers were an ‘infrastructure and grid stability problem dressed up as a charging debate.’ “When ministers talk about accelerating EV adoption, or the public talks about whether charging is convenient, the real question is whether we are building a grid that can carry electrification without pricing it into public resentment,” the article noted. “At the moment, we are not.”
Writing for EV Infrastructure News earlier this month, Emma Andrews, partner at Burges Salmon, explores how power purchase agreements (PPAs) and private wires could help fleet and freight operators amid the ongoing grid connection reform challenge. A private wire and on-site energy generation, with terminals ‘offering the space to install solar panels and small wind turbines either within the site itself or nearby… reduces reliance on grid connections and guarantees access to green power.’ A corporate PPA, meanwhile, can offer a ‘direct contractual link to renewable electricity where space constraints mean that private wire or on-site generation isn’t possible.’
What else can be done? Robin Heap, CEO of Zest, a UK provider of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure, recently noted an anomaly with the industry: administratively speaking, it doesn’t officially exist. Zest’s Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code is 82990, the rather vague ‘other business support service activities not elsewhere classified.’ Other operators are put in buckets ranging from electricity trading, to retail fuel sales, to transport services.
This bureaucratic woolliness, Heap suggests, may be linked to a lack of visibility across the economic footprint of public EV charging. A more joined-up approach, to reduce the infrastructure gap, seems sensible.
“Creating a dedicated SIC code would not commit government to subsidies or new regulation,” wrote Heap. “It would simply recognise the industry for what it already is: a growing piece of the modern energy and transport economy.
“As Britain electrifies transport, recognising the sector building the charging network would be a small but essential step towards a coherent national strategy.”
