Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse has been to date of installing or subsidising (a) uni-directional and (b) bi-directional charge points for electric vehicles in the UK.

To date, the Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has provided more than £100 million to support the installation of uni-directional chargepoints. The Department has not made an estimation of the cost and the number of uni-directional chargepoints that will be installed in the UK by 2025.

As announced at Budget 2017, a new £400m electric car Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (£200m new Government investment to be matched by private investors) will accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure by providing access to finance to companies that deliver chargepoints.

The Government recognises that Vehicle to Grid (bi-directional) charging capability could become an important service for our energy system, but is still at a relatively early stage of development. OLEV and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are providing funding of £20 million for innovative projects that develop future Vehicle to Grid products, services and knowledge. The outcome of these projects will help inform future development of bi-directional charging.