Ministers are considering diverting money from a £950m scheme to install rapid chargers for electric cars on the UK’s motorways, announced five years ago, after it failed to make a single grant.
Much of the cash allocated to the rapid charging fund (RCF) could be redirected to investments in other charging schemes, or to support the transition to electric vehicles more broadly, although decisions have yet to be made, according to a person close to discussions in government.
The charging companies Osprey, InstaVolt and Char.gy said the money should be used to support charging in other ways.
The fund was announced in March 2020, before the first Covid-19 lockdowns, by Rishi Sunak, who was then chancellor. It was meant to pay for high-power grid connections for remote motorway service stations. That would combat “range anxiety” by the installation of ultra-rapid chargers capable of adding hundreds of miles of charge within minutes.
However, not a penny of the £950m fund has been spent. Competition regulators raised concerns that the money could unfairly benefit some motorway service operators, forcing the government to go back to the drawing board.
The delays had raised concerns in the industry that the money might be cut back or not be spent on charging at all, with Keir Starmer making billions of pounds of controversial cuts to the overseas aid and disability benefits budgets. A government source said that there is no plan to scrap the programme, but added that it needed to be adjusted to reflect the changes in the market.
“We want to make best use of government money,” the person said. “The concept of supporting charging is not going anywhere.”
Motorway service area operators, who could lose out, are due to meet a transport minister after Rachel Reeves’s spring statement on Wednesday, although details of the changes are not expected in time for the meeting. The big three motorway services companies are Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef, which are ultimately owned by private equity investors.
Other charger companies – who would not have benefited from the fund – argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere.
Ian Johnston, chief executive of Osprey Charging Network, said the fund was “a poor use of taxpayer money, at a time when public funds are so limited”, although he added that there were “isolated cases” of motorway service areas that will need support for grid connections.
He added: “Most of the vast rollout of public charging infrastructure, including at motorway service areas, has been funded by private investment. This rollout has surged ahead despite the RCF being significantly delayed.”
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Delvin Lane, chief executive of InstaVolt, a rapid charger company, called for the money to be spent on cutting the 20% VAT on public charging to match the 5% rate for home chargers, electric car purchase subsidies, and cutting energy costs.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said:
“We want to use taxpayers’ money as efficiently as possible to make the transition to electric vehicles a success, and we launched the rapid charging fund pilot to better understand where we should target government support. We will apply learnings from the pilot to continue boosting charging infrastructure on the strategic road network.”
Source: theguardian.com
