Accelerating EV Infrastructure and the ZEV Mandate

Accelerating EV Infrastructure: The Race Against the ZEV Mandate

The UK finds itself at a tipping point in its path toward electric vehicles (EVs) as the consultation towards the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate closed on the 18th of February. This mandate lays out an ambitious path toward EV adoption, but fast-tracking charging infrastructure as deployment accelerates poses an ongoing challenge. It is not just about the number of chargers, but their placement, usage, and financial viability to the investor and Charge Point Operators (CPOs)

The Charging Infrastructure Challenge

The ZEV mandate will require 22% of all new car sales to be electric in 2024, with that percentage growing yearly. While policy rightly encourages supply, it must also be matched with the availability of charging points to ensure driver confidence. Charge points are split into a variety of different types.

• High-output rapid recharges enable quick-stop fuelling-up at service stations and other major transit points.
• Destination and workplace chargers that allow for longer dwell times at retail, hospitality, and business locations.
• On-street residential chargers, such as lamp post and bollard-based units for the millions that don’t have off-street parking.

Investors and CPOs face the Cost vs. Utilisation Challenge

Building out infrastructure isn’t as straightforward as just adding chargers. The high capital cost of connections to grids, site preparations and continuing maintenance needs to be justified with current use levels. Even as EV uptake rises, many locations see less charging demand than expected, putting pressure on investors’ return on investment.

CPOs, Government and industry must work in partnership to de-risk investment. A cocktail of incentives, policy support, and grid upgrades are needed to keep deployment on pace.

Working with government: Our key asks

To help ensure that charging infrastructure keeps up with the growth of EVs, we call on the Government to:

Minimise the VAT Gap and Over-Head Standing Charge

The key challenge to equitable EV adoption lies in the current VAT disparity between home and public EV charging. Powering your car from home attracts a 5% VAT and public charging attracts 20% VAT, disadvantaging anyone without access to a private driveway, such as renters and urban dwellers. To rectify this imbalance, we suggest:

• Lowering VAT on public charging to 5% to harmonise͒ treatment and make it easier for EV drivers who need to use public infrastructure,
• This will:
  • Improve EV adoption rates by bringing public charging into parity with home charging.
  • Make better use of public charging by reducing the price to pay,  promoting more usage, and better returns for investors.
  • Signals Government intent for a transition to zero-emission vehicles that is fair and inclusive.

Additionally, on high-voltage (HV) connections, there are high standing charges which make it economically difficult to adopt rapid and ultra-rapid charge points. We therefore recommend the following, to encourage investment and infrastructure expansion:

• Lowering standing charges for EV-oriented HV connections.
• Providing:
  • upfront cost support for CPOs by subsidising connection fees.
  • tax incentives for high-powered charge points to ensure they work economically, especially in rural and under-served areas.

In addition to these top priorities

• Accelerate Grid Connections – Ensure prioritisation of and streamline charging infrastructure requirements as part of network planning to reduce time to power availability at strategic locations.
• Expand Public Funding Support – Provide grants and other investment funding for more CPOs to deploy infrastructure into less commercially viable areas
• Introduce Business Rate Relief for Public Charging Sites. Reduce operating costs for CPOs to ensure the financial sustainability of vital public charging infrastructure.

Electric Vans:  Demand Needs Support

The commercial vehicle industry is following suit with more and more companies transitioning to electric-powered fleets. While it has been a slow year thus far, the outlook for electric vans remains positive in the long run. Fleet operators in particular need focused support – especially around depot charging and high-powered en-route charging solutions. While electric trucks have gained attention in recent years, we also must prioritise ensuring adequate infrastructure for the last-mile delivery sector as it transitions to electric.

Looking Ahead

The UK finds itself at a crossroads in its EV journey. The ZEV mandate is already setting the stage for the future of transport, but a strong and comprehensive charging network is needed if we don’t want the transition to stagnate. Industry and investor collaboration with the government is vital to maintain the UK’s leadership position, in the EV revolution.

The EV Network is dedicated to providing private investment and continuing to develop key infrastructure necessary to accelerate this required transition to scale. We can develop a network that serves the needs of drivers today while paving the way for the car of the future by tackling cost and deployment challenges head-on.