EV Strategy: (ECC Committee Report)

Lord Birt Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, on her commanding introduction, and I congratulate the committee on producing a truly comprehensive report of real ambition. My only criticism is that it is far too polite. The committee strictly identifies the gulf between aspiration and delivery thus far on our journey to net zero, and it offers no hope that, on current trends, we are even remotely on course to meet our long-term targets for decarbonising road transport. Decarbonising and expanding the production of electricity, decarbonising the heating of our homes and buildings, and decarbonising road transport must be our prime goals if we are to play our part in reducing the impact of climate change.

Today, only one in 30 of the vehicles on our roads is an EV, with annual sales of new EVs apparently flattening at around 16% of the total. I am an EV owner, and it is easy to see why take-up has been so slow—the committee’s report evidences this well. First, although the lifetime cost of owning an EV is economic, EVs are more expensive to buy up front than petrol and diesel vehicles. Will the new Government seek more ways to incentivise EV purchase and increasingly to disincentivise the purchase of vehicles powered by petrol and diesel?

The second factor inhibiting take-up is that, on the move over longer distances, the charging experience is infinitely less convenient than buying petrol. I am a member of the APPG on EVs, and we were told by a leading motorway service provider that one major motorway service station has no charge points at all. One station has installed charge points, but they are not in service because an adequate grid connection cannot be obtained for some years still to come. He told us that, in busy periods, he has to deploy stewards to avert fights breaking out on charge point queues. Only 63% of motorway service stations have over six charge points, and only around 40% have six or more rapid chargers. In the whole of the UK, there are fewer than 4,000 ultra-rapid charge points. Will this Government ensure that motorway service stations up their game and that grid connections to charge points used by long-distance drivers will be prioritised?

The third reason for the low take-up of EVs is that there is huge variation across the country in the availability of public charge points. The EV APPG was told that 80% of UK public charge points are in London and the south-east. I see from the committee’s report that there are over 100 times more charge points per head of population in Hammersmith and Fulham than in the Wirral, west of the Mersey. Not everyone can install a charge point in their garden at home—if you live in an apartment block or on a terraced street, for example. Will this Government devise and implement a plan for an appropriate rollout of public charge points right across the UK and located conveniently to where people live and park their cars?

The fourth reason why EV take-up is low is because the cost of charging is highly variable. It is economic at home, of course, cheaper than petrol, but high-speed charging is expensive. Will this Government ensure that the daily cost of running an EV is cheaper than a carbon-fuelled vehicle?

Finally, take-up is low because the quality of the user interface at charge points can be completely unfit for purpose, with under-illuminated screens in direct sunlight impossible to read, touch pay not always available, and onerous and complex user instructions. Touring the Inner Hebrides with my wife in the summer, I came across a particularly lurid example: a charge point with a blizzard—over 100 words—of user instructions; the requirement before using it to scan a QR code and to download an app; and a complex process of feeding back a reference number for the individual charge point before it could be used. It was a complete nightmare. I have a picture of that charge point on my smartphone, if any noble Lords present would like to see it. It is a gruesome sight. Will this Government galvanise the industry to ensure that the process of paying to charge your EV is as simple and convenient as buying petrol, and that all payments can be contactless, even below 8 kilowatts?

Briefly, I want to respond to what the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, has said. The noble Lord graces any committee because he is always challenging. I passionately believe that we have to achieve net zero, but I agree that we have to find the most economic route to it. There is far too little debate about that—but at the end of the day there may be a price for achieving net zero. We need to make it the minimum price, but we have to recognise that there is a price, and it is absolutely imperative that we reach our net-zero goals as quickly as possible.

Will this Government produce and publish a comprehensive and granular joined-up plan for delivering net zero, as we do not have one at the moment, including how to decarbonise transport? Will he explain how all the many departments right across government that need to combine to deliver an integrated plan will be involved in that process, and how they will be tasked to deliver? Does the Minister believe that by 2030, in six years’ time, the goal that all new cars should be EVs is achievable?