UK MPs : Electric car charging prices shouldn't be expensive

UK MPs : Electric car charging prices shouldn't be expensive
July 28, 2021, 3:55 am

Electric car charging prices 'must be fair'

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, MPs have said people must be protected from excessive pricing for public electric car charging.

Charging an electric car at home is much cheaper than using public charge points.

According to the BBC, the Transport Select Committee said: This could put pressure on people who are less able to afford it.

The MPs added, the government also needs to make charging infrastructure accessible and reliable, and make sure people in rural areas have equal access.

The UK plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, and hybrids by 2035.

That should mean that most cars on the road in 2050 are either electric, use hydrogen fuel cells, or some other non-fossil fuel technology.

However, at present there is a disparity between how much it costs to charge a car at home compared to public charging, which is more expensive.

The MPs added, Property developers should also be required to provide public charging points, and councils should make sure charging infrastructure is built.

The committee chair Huw Merriman said: "Charging electric vehicles should be convenient, straightforward and inexpensive and drivers must not be disadvantaged by where they live or how they charge their vehicles."

The committee said: In addition, drivers who live in rural or remote areas or who do not have off-street parking "risk being left behind."

It added, industry must use pricing "to change consumer charging behaviour to a 'little but often' approach and at times when the National Grid can meet total demand".

Graeme Cooper, head of future markets at National Grid, said that the energy network operator was "working with government to map out where critical grid capacity is needed to enable the faster roll out of charging points".

"There will be an uptick in demand for energy so we need to ensure that we are future proofing, putting the right wires in the right place for future demand."

He said National Grid would have to ramp up capacity to help achieve the UK's net zero goals, both by making it smarter, but also putting in more physical infrastructure.

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said; "For most drivers, the opportunity to charge an EV in their garage, on their driveway or in a dedicated parking space offers cheaper running costs.

"However, for the 30% of homeowners with no access to dedicated off-street parking or workplace charging, they have no choice but to pay the rates set on the public charging network."

"On the road to electrification, we cannot allow one group of drivers to benefit while others struggle - in effect, a two-tier system of have and have-nots."

Benjamin Sovacool, professor of energy policy at the University of Sussex Business School, said the pricing of charging "is a concern", and that electric vehicles "benefit some people more than others".

Lower income areas, especially rural areas, spend about twice as much of their income on mobility already, he said.

The UK government was approached for comment.

Source: BBC
Image source: Getty Images-BBC

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