Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that rural communities have the infrastructure necessary to enable the use of electric vehicles.

We want people across the country to have the opportunity to make the move to electric vehicles (EVs). Most EV drivers choose to charge their cars at home, overnight (and 85% of dwellings in rural areas have off-street parking) or increasingly at the workplace. For those without access or undertaking longer journeys, public charging is important.

The Department has committed over £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll out of charging infrastructure on motorways and major A roads, in homes and businesses and on-street. Government will publish its forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy soon. This will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the whole of the UK, including rural areas. It will also set out roles and responsibilities for ensuring charging infrastructure rollout is delivered at the pace needed to transition to a zero-emission car and van fleet. We will continue to monitor this situation and consider the case for direct central government support in rural areas if required.

The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities, including those with rural areas, to apply to and provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking. £20 million is available in the 2021-22 financial year. To support local authorities in accessing this funding, DfT funds Energy Saving Trust to offer expert advice on EV charging and support on developing EV strategies. Energy Saving Trust, in partnership with DfT, also hosts a library of webinars and guidance for local authorities on installing charging points. This includes webinars specifically for rural local authorities.

Government will also launch a Local EV infrastructure Fund, which will be available to English local authorities in 2022-23. This fund will facilitate the roll-out of larger scale charging infrastructure projects across the country.

In addition, this year, we will expand the Workplace Charging Scheme to support small accommodation businesses and charities to install chargepoints for their guests and visitors. This should help provision of more chargepoints in rural areas, for example it should support places like village halls provide chargepoints for their communities.