Executive Summary
- The UK government has launched an official consultation on upgrading grid capacity at motorway service areas (MSAs), with £190 million potentially allocated for the scheme
- The Strategic Charging Infrastructure scheme will ‘support the development of a strong open access EV charging offer across the motorway network by removing electricity upgrade costs as a barrier to EV charging provision’ at MSAs in England
- The government said it was ‘committed to decarbonising road transport’ and that limited access to affordable electricity network capacity remains a ‘significant barrier’
The UK government has launched an official consultation on an electric vehicles Strategic Charging Infrastructure scheme to upgrade grid capacity at motorway services areas (MSAs), with a potential allocation of £190 million made for the scheme.
The scheme aims to deliver electricity upgrades to meet projected EV charging demand at selected sites to at least 2035, with some projects potentially going up to 2050. The funding is part of the £400m earmarked to support EV charging infrastructure as part of the 2025 Spending Review, covering funding from 2026 to 2030.
There are currently 116 MSAs in England – the only part of the UK to which this scheme applies – with the government saying there is only a minority at which the cost of grid capacity to meet demand remains not commercially viable. The scheme will ‘support the development of a strong open access EV charging offer across the motorway network by removing electricity upgrade costs as a barrier to EV charging provision at a subset of impacted MSAs in England’, the government added.
Regarding the barrier of a lack of affordable electricity network capacity at some MSAs, the scheme will ensure that by 2030, any MSAs where government intervenes will have enough capacity to meet projected EV driver demand until ‘at least’ 2035. The government warned there was ‘very limited’ scope to move ‘large, well-established’ sites to locations with affordable grid capacity.
The proposed scheme will have four steps. Sites will firstly be selected by government, before contracting with connection providers for electricity network upgrades, and then build. The post-build, the final step, is worth noting. The government will reserve the resulting network capacity for a fixed period, and upon application to the connection provider and payment of the ‘second-comer charge’, capacity will be released to firms to install open access EV charging at the MSA. Any unused capacity will then be made available to the wider market.
“The government is committed to decarbonising road transport. A visible charging network is essential for successful electric vehicle (EV) uptake,” the official consultation description reads. “Motorway service areas (MSAs) offer charging on major routes, particularly for long-distance travel. However, limited access to affordable electricity network capacity remains a significant barrier to charger rollout in England.
“The strategic charging infrastructure (SCI) scheme will strengthen electricity network infrastructure to selected MSAs where investment is not commercially viable. This will enable the deployment of ultra-rapid chargers.”
In response to the news, operator Fuse Energy said that the scheme ‘represents a significant policy shift aimed at overcoming persistent barriers to motorway service area EV charging.’
The consultation closes on 28 July.
