FOCUS TRANSPORT
POWER TRIP ROAD TO ZERO
Alex Georgiev of building services company Polyteck argues that more action is needed
to increase the uptake of electric vehicles among businesses and consumers
Electric vehicles o er an exciting
future. More e icient, quieter,
and a major part of the solution
to the problem of poor air quality
that we su er in our cities, the
advantages they o er are huge.
So why don’t we see more of
them? Currently, the number of
consumers who own an electric or
hybrid vehicle is very low. A lot of
this has to do with the fact that the
infrastructure needed to support
them simply isn’t in place yet.
Recent analysis by Autotrader
predicts 75 per cent of new cars sold
in 2040 will be electrically powered. It
also suggests that sales of electric or
hybrid cars will overtake petrol and
diesel by 2030 – yet will only account
for 75 per cent of new sales a decade
later.
In London, there are already positive
moves to promote the adoption of
electric vehicles, such as the recently
introduced ultra-low emission zone.
Drivers are charged to travel within the
area unless their vehicles meet tight
exhaust emission standards. But a lot
more needs to be done. At present
the infrastructure to make it work
simply doesn’t exist. There is structural
incoherence, and not enough charge
points in the right locations to cope
with the expected upswing in demand.
Approximately 20 providers run
national or regional charger networks.
56 JUNE 2019
Each requires a vehicle driver to
register and have their own specific
swipe card to use their charge points.
Di erent networks operate di erent
models. Connectors for the chargers
are another issue, because di erent
manufacturers use di erent types.
There is no single car-charge adaptor
that allows you to freely plug in
anywhere. There are standard threepin
socket charge points available, but
these are incredibly slow.
Another drawback is that the
one place where you can be
reasonably sure of
finding charge points
is in car parks. But
to use them, you
have to pay to
park your car
as well as the
cost of charging
it. That doesn’t
make financial
sense for a lot of
consumers. At present,
if you are able to plan your
journey from A to B in advance, you
can allow for charging your vehicle.
But unplanned journeys are much
more di icult.
As a consumer, your ability to
use an electric vehicle is limited by
where you live. Many blocks of flats
don’t have nearby charging stations,
and unfortunately a lot of newbuild
developments are not planning to
include such facilities because they
don’t have to. Nor is the system well
geared for commercial use. There may
be charge points in shopping centres
and car parks, but the infrastructure
for commercial vehicles is more
scarce.
So, what’s the answer? New
legislation could play a major part.
For instance, a law that requires
developers to make provision
for two-thirds of households in a
new development having electric
vehicles would go a long
way to providing the
infrastructure that the
country needs.
In addition, the
issue of how to
make the electricity
network capable
of coping with the
increased load needs
to be addressed. Fast
charging of vehicles requires
more electricity, and providing this in
densely populated areas, particularly
flats, is challenging.
The good news for consumers is
that providing a charge point for
an electric vehicle is relatively cost
e ective. There are grants, both
residential and commercial, which
make them cheap to install, although
the process for claiming these grants
can be complicated. If you choose a
charge point installer who is registered
under the Electric Vehicle Homecharge
Scheme (EVHS), they can make the
process smoother by carrying out the
installation and claiming the grant
back on behalf of residents.
We’re on the cusp of an exciting
future, but to make it work, we need
more standardisation. That means
one card provider that works with
all charging schemes. We need more
workplaces and petrol stations
o ering high-charge points to enable
longer, more spontaneous journeys.
And the government needs to
introduce legislation that makes it
obligatory for newbuild developments
to incorporate charging schemes.
A flurry of legislation over the last
two years has seen the government
talk a good game on sustainable
transport. Under the 2017 Air
Quality Plan, the UK committed to
ending the sale of new conventional
petrol and diesel cars and vans by
2040 (although the ban does not
include hybrids). Last year, the
government launched its ambitious
Road to Zero strategy, which aims
to see at least half of new cars being
ultra-low emission by 2030. Road
to Zero sets out several measures
to support and encourage the
uptake of electric vehicles as part
of a plan to expand the UK’s green
infrastructure. These include:
The launch of a £400 million
Charging Infrastructure Investment
Fund to help accelerate the
roll-out of charging infrastructure
by providing funding to new and
existing companies that produce
and install charge points
Creating a new £40 million
programme to develop and trial
innovative, low-cost wireless and
on-street charging technology
An increase in the value of grants
available to workplaces to install
charge points so people can charge
when they are at work
The launch of an Electric Vehicle
Energy Taskforce to bring together
the energy and automotive
industries to plan for the increase
in demand on energy infrastructure
that will result from a rise in the use
of electric vehicles.
As part of the strategy, the
Automated and Electric Vehicles Act
2018 gives the government powers
to boost consumer confidence
by improving the availability of
charge points. The new laws are
designed to ensure that motorway
services are upgraded with plenty
of points, for example, and that
public charge points are compatible
with all vehicles. The government
also intends to standardise the way
charge points are paid for, and set
standards for reliability.
The good news for
consumers is that
providing a charge point
for an electric vehicle is
relatively cost
effective.”