Charging in Progress: the Future of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in the UK

The transport sector accounted for over a third of all carbon dioxide emissions in the UK last year, the single largest source of emissions in the country. Surface vehicles, including cars and buses, form the large majority of this statistic.¹ As the sector is traditionally powered by fossil fuels, shifting to alternatives, including battery-powered and (plug-in) hybrid electric vehicles ("EV"s), is a logical step to slashing emissions. This shift is already underway – in 2019, global sales of EVs exceeded two million. However, this represented just 2.6 per cent of all car sales. The position is similar in the UK – EV sales are rising but form only a fraction of our total vehicle fleet.² Following the UK Government's recent announcement that the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars has been brought forward to 2030 from 2040, there is a pressing need to accelerate the shift to zero-emissions vehicles.

The charging infrastructure problem

There are many, well-documented reasons why EV uptake is slow in the UK. Lack of charging infrastructure ³ is one of the biggest roadblocks. Over half of drivers surveyed by the Department for Transport indicated that charging concerns are preventing them from adopting EVs.⁴ The issue is described as the chicken or egg conundrum: the case for investing in charging infrastructure relies heavily on the level of EV uptake, and EV uptake is dependent on the prevalence of charging infrastructure.

Cost is also a barrier to expanding the EV charging network. First, public charging infrastructure is expensive, particularly for rapid chargers. The expense is due to higher operating and maintenance costs, including rent and insurance, relative to home and workplace charge points. Second, overall costs are uncertain –a charge point's exact location will have an impact on whether additional utilities works are required. Finally, in the context of public transport fleets, particularly buses, operators face the risk of sunk costs associated with investing in infrastructure along particular routes. If a private operator contracts with a public authority to operate services on a given route, the risk materialises if the underlying operating contract falls away and the operator has infrastructure at fixed locations it can no longer use.

On a macro level, the question is: who should be responsible for delivering charging infrastructure? It is likely that collaboration between the public and private sectors will be key to expanding charging infrastructure in the UK. We consider below the current and potential future actions that public and private sector entities are taking or could take to accelerate charging infrastructure installation.

Public sector - UK Government investment

In March 2020, the UK Department for Transport announced in Consultation Paper, "Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge", that the UK is providing "one of the most comprehensive support packages in the world" to aid the transition to emissions-free vehicles. This paper pledged £2.5 billion of grants and funding for charging infrastructure at homes, residential streets and work places and across the wider road network. More recently, as part of the UK Government's "Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution" announced in November, a £2.8 billion support package commits £1.3 billion to accelerating the rollout of charging infrastructure in homes and on streets and motorways. These funding packages hit three of the four segments of the EV charging infrastructure market: Home Charging, Workplace Charging and Rapid Charging. The fourth sector, Destination Charging, is most suited to private sector investment (as discussed below).

Rapid Charging

The UK Government has earmarked £500 million for investment in rapid charging infrastructure from 2020 to 2025, with the aim that drivers will never be more than 30 miles from a rapid charging point. ⁵ The Rapid Charging Fund aims to provide at least 6, and up to 12, high-powered charge points at each motorway services area in England by 2023, and to reach 6,000 rapid charge points across England's motorways and major A roads by 2035.⁶ The UK Government will, if necessary, introduce regulations under the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 to improve customer experience and the level of charge point provision at key sites.⁷

We also wrote earlier this year about the first £70 million tranche of the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF), the £400 million government-matched fund managed by Zouk Capital, which is funding InstaVolt's roll out of 3,000 rapid charging points by 2024.⁸ 

Home and Workplace Charging

Although funding for individuals and businesses towards the cost of home and workplace charging infrastructure under the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) and Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) has been reduced from £500 to £350 from 1 April 2020,⁹ the reduction appears to be on a per grant basis rather than a reduction in the total sum of grants available. The rationale behind the reduction is to enable more people to benefit from the grants – EVHS grants are predicted to assist approximately 57,000 people this year.¹⁰

The UK Government has also increased the Onstreet Residential Charging scheme from £5 million to £10 million for 2020 to 2021. More widespread public charging infrastructure will benefit current and potential vehicle owners without private parking, such as those living in shared flats and terraced houses. Around 20 to 30 per cent of motorists do not have access to off-street parking, according to "Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge". To address this need, Deloitte estimates that there will be a shift towards public charging infrastructure in the EV charging infrastructure market over the coming decade as more middle or lower income households without home charging options adopt EVs.¹¹

What more could the public sector do?

Despite the funding package the government has committed to EV charging infrastructure in the near future, commentators believe the UK Government could do more.

The Committee on Climate Change's "Reducing UK emissions – Progress Report to Parliament" recommended in June 2020 that EV users would welcome government collaboration with regulators, local authorities and industries to ensure a "universal service expectation" from charging infrastructure. Charge points should be harmonised across the country so that drivers behind any model of car are able to use any charge point conveniently. This is not currently the case – for example, drivers have to register separately with each charging service provider.

Vehicles will also need to cross borders seamlessly, so drivers require international coordination to ensure journeys abroad in EVs are not stalled by incompatible charging infrastructure, as noted by the Advisory Group on the Costs and Benefits of Net Zero's Supplementary Report to the Committee on Climate Change. This Supplementary Report welcomes the government's pledged funds but further recommends that we need a longer term vision to cater for the anticipated future EV charging infrastructure demand. For example, policy could look to implement strategies such as grid investment to support the transition to EVs.

Lessons from Norway

Other countries with successful EV uptake could inspire and inform the UK Government's approach. Norway is the world leader in EV adoption in terms of the percentage of zero-emissions vehicles on the roads. Data from CleanTechnica shows that in August 2020 the plug-in passenger vehicle market share in Norway reached 70.2 per cent. By contrast, data from NextGreenCar shows that the combined EV market share in the UK in August 2020 was 9.8 per cent. Norway appears to have resolved, or perhaps circumvented, the chicken or egg problem, achieving not just a critical mass of EVs, but a market majority of EVs.

To encourage the transition to zero-emissions vehicles, the Norwegian government combined tax incentives with significant public investment in charging infrastructure. A Norwegian state enterprise, Enova, initially funded a EUR 7 million EV infrastructure programme which provided 1,900 charging points by 2011, a case study report to the European Commission on Norway's EV initiatives described. Enova has continued to support charging infrastructure projects since. With a recent programme, NOK 50.5 million (EUR 4.62 million) was allocated to fast charging infrastructure for EVs through three rounds of competitive bidding, as reported by Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy's "Energy Facts Norway".

With its current package of promised investment in charging infrastructure, the UK Government's approach to amplifying charging infrastructure appears to echo Norway's. However, while it is easy to draw parallels, it is important to recognise that differences in circumstances, such as population, geography, economy and existing capabilities, will mean the UK needs a tailored approach.

We anticipate that the UK's Transport Decarbonisation Plan, to be published later this year, will detail how the UK plans to stimulate the EV charging infrastructure market, as well as further strategies to support the transition to EVs.

Private sector developments

Private sector innovation and investment can further accelerate the transition to zero-emissions vehicles.

Electrifying commercial fleets

Businesses with commercial vehicle fleets could consider switching to EVs in their decarbonisation strategies. Businesses may find economies of scale in investing in EVs and charging infrastructure at depots and along major operational routes. They could also experience positive branding benefits in the eyes of increasingly environment-conscious employees and consumers. The Committee on Climate Change's "Reducing UK emissions – Progress Report to Parliament" reported that in June 2020, 20 UK companies had committed to fully electric fleets by 2030 and 34 organisations had committed to fully electric vans.

For companies that are uncertain about committing to the capital investment required to own an EV fleet and associated charging infrastructure, increasingly varied leasing options could prove more popular. Companies could take advantage of traditional business hire structures for EV charging infrastructure or could look to more novel leasing structures. An innovative business model adopted by Zenobe Energy and applied recently to 100 electric buses across the UK sees Zenobe owning and servicing the batteries of the electric buses and charging infrastructure at depots. The transport operators retain ownership of the vehicle bodies. Splitting the financial risk like this helps to lower the overall costs of adopting electric buses, as well as any perceived risks associated with owning charging infrastructure as discussed above. Applying this structure by analogy to the electrification of other commercial fleets could accelerate the uptake of commercial EVs across the UK.

Destination Charging

Private entities could accelerate growth of charging infrastructure in the Destination Charging EV market segment, ie charge points at existing retail premises and leisure sites. Landlord-operator partnership structures, such as that offered by InstaVolt, a company supported by £12 million of investment by Zouk Capital, could be instrumental. Under this partnership, InstaVolt pays the landlord a rental income in exchange for placing its rapid charging stations on the landlord's site. InstaVolt operates and maintains the charge points. Landlords benefit from increased footfall and operators obtain revenue from electricity sales.

Carmakers

Beyond public authority-led mandates, manufacturing charging infrastructure is usually outside the remit of carmakers. However, there is potential for more vehicle manufacturers to move into the charging infrastructure market. A leading example is Tesla – its Model 3 was the best-selling EV in the UK last year. Tesla's customers benefit from its "Supercharger" network of rapid chargers, capable of adding 1,600 km of range in an hour. In comparison, the rapid charge points pledged by the UK through the Rapid Charging Fund will deliver between 770 to 930 km in one hour's charge.

Other manufacturers are engaging with the sector without risking as much capital investment as rolling out an entire charging network. For example, Ford's partnership with NewMotion allows its drivers access to the latter's extensive charging network, currently the largest in Europe.¹² In the US, the FordPass Charging Network allows drivers, not exclusively those behind a Ford, to take advantage of a pool of charge points from different providers (which contain cumulatively more charge points than the number of Tesla Superchargers in the US). Drivers do not have to register with each provider individually. Ionity, a joint venture between BMW, Ford, Volkswagen and Daimler, is building fast chargers across Europe, access to which is not limited to vehicles manufactured by those in the consortium.

New technologies could shake up the existing approach

While in the near future plug-in charging infrastructure as we currently know it will be key to encouraging EV uptake and will likely be the most widespread form of EV charging, in the more distant future, new technologies may complement and diversify the existing EV charging infrastructure market. Advancements in nascent technologies could further boost EV uptake and help to increase the availability and variety of charging infrastructure.

Wireless charging

As an alternative to dedicated electric charging points which EV users must seek out and plug into, introducing user-friendly EV wireless charging could leverage existing infrastructure to incorporate EV charging into regular vehicle routes. Parking spaces could be fitted with wireless charging pads and technology enabling in-motion wireless charging could see parts of the road network fitted with charging sections.

Wireless charging taxis will be piloted in Nottingham between 2020 and 2022. Qualcomm's Halo induction technology transfers energy between a 1m² charging pad on the ground and a charging pad on the underside of the stationary vehicle. By placing wireless charging pads at taxi ranks, electric taxi fleets can benefit from time savings where multiple vehicles can connect and disconnect from a charger quickly while moving up the taxi queue. With shorter, more frequent charges, vehicles can carry a smaller battery, reducing the vehicle's overall costs, too.

Technology may enable wireless charging while EVs are in motion. Israeli company, ElectReon, and partners are developing and operating short stretches of wireless charging roads in Israel, Sweden and Germany: in Tel Aviv, an urban shuttle e-Bus is charged by a 600m stretch of electric road on a 2km route to Tel Aviv University. If proved to be viable large-scale, in-motion wireless charging could reduce the need for separate charging stations and alleviate issues of range anxiety. However, investment would still be necessary to upgrade existing infrastructure to incorporate wireless charging technology.

Hydrogen fuel

In July, we wrote about how hydrogen could have an important impact in the energy transition, particularly in the transport sector.¹³ Hydrogen could completely alter the market for zero-emissions vehicles. With refuelling speeds closer to filling a regular petrol or diesel vehicle compared to an EV recharge, hydrogen fuelled vehicles could become a popular zero-emissions vehicle option. However, among other obstacles, hydrogen refuelling infrastructure suffers its own chicken or egg problem: incentives to establish the required infrastructure are low due to current lack of demand and demand is low due to the current lack of infrastructure.

Solar power

Leveraging solar power to fuel vehicles is another possible option. The anticipated Lightyear One prototype is a hatchback with 5m² of solar panels, which can be powered by both sunlight or through typical EV charge points. The solar cells mean that no "typical" EV charging will be required for extended periods of time, which reduces the demand for as many fast charge points and overall reliance on the grid. The first Lightyear Ones are expected to be available next year.

Beam Global, based in the US, has developed the "EV ARC 2020" grid-independent charging technology which uses rotating solar arrays that track the sun's position. This energy is stored and available to use for charging at any time, with or without sunshine. Each charging station, which fits within a standard parking space, can be deployed on-demand, moved around easily and requires less construction or installation.

The road ahead

When considering how to expand EV charging infrastructure in the UK, the number of potential strategies and technologies seem impossibly varied. However, it is clear that a multitude of factors are on track to align so that consumer demand for zero-emissions vehicles will precipitate into the all-important "critical mass". (1) EVs which will shortly reach lifetime cost parity with petrol/diesel vehicles, (2) legislative commitments and (3) an increasingly climate-conscious population, will all contribute to EVs becoming the logical option for consumers and businesses. Recovery from the coronavirus pandemic also presents an opportunity for a "green recovery" in the form of increased development of and investment in low carbon technologies, such as EVs and associated charging infrastructure. Recent public sector announcements are encouraging – "Accelerating the Shift to Zero Emissions Vehicles" is a UK Government priority, forming one pillar of its "Ten Point Plan" discussed above. The switch to zero-emissions vehicles is fast-approaching and support from both public and private sectors will be vital to the transition.

Co Authors: Crystal Yuen, Junior Associate and Abigail Harvey, Junior Associate 

1. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, "National Statistics - 2019 UK greenhouse gas emissions, provisional figures", gov.uk (26 March 2020)
2. Green Alliance, "How the UK can lead the electric vehicle revolution", March 2018
3. We provided an overview of the types of charging infrastructure and the legislative framework in "UK electric vehicles: Charging ahead", EnergySource, Issue 22 (28 January 2020)
4. Tom Seymour, "EV charging infrastructure 'biggest barrier' to adoption, says DfT", fleetnews.co.uk (25 August 2020)
5. Department for Transport, "Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge", gov.uk (26 March 2020), paragraph 2.10
6. Office for Low Emission Vehicles, "Government vision for the rapid chargepoint network in England", gov.uk (14 May 2020)
7. Office for Low Emission Vehicles, "Government vision for the rapid chargepoint network in England", gov.uk (14 May 2020)
8. Antony Skinner and Justyna Bremen, "UK electric vehicles: Charging ahead", EnergySource, Issue 22 (28 January 2020)
9. Department for Transport, "Update on infrastructure grants and schemes", gov.uk (12 March 2020)
10. Department for Transport, "Update on infrastructure grants and schemes", gov.uk (12 March 2020)
11. Deloitte, "Electric vehicles - Setting a course for 2030", deloitte.com (28 July 2020)
12. "NewMotion Gives Ford Drivers Access to Europe's Largest Electric Vehicle Charging Network", newmotion.com (10 September 2019)
13. Thomas Penton, Justyna Bremen, "The UK's approach to development of green energy sources: why the renewed interest in hydrogen?", EnergyTransition Series (23 July 2020)