Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The Government has put in place a comprehensive package of measures to make it easier and cheaper to switch to a zero emission vehicle. Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support this transition. The additional funding will support the rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local on-street residential charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.

This year, the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme will be reformed to provide additional help for people living in rented and leasehold accommodation and the Workplace Charging Scheme will be opened to small accommodation business and the charity sector. This will help to accelerate electric vehicle uptake in rural areas and support the UK tourist industry. For those without access to off-street parking, the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, which is available to all UK local authorities will help to provide public chargepoints for their residents. This year, £20 million is available under the scheme to ensure more local authorities and residents can benefit.

Last year Government introduced legislation requiring all new or majorly renovated buildings in England to have chargepoints if there is associated parking. Government does not intend to stop here and recently consulted on chargepoint provision in existing car parks as well.

Later this year we will launch our new Local EV Infrastructure Fund (LEVI). This will facilitate the rollout of larger-scale chargepoint infrastructure projects across England for local areas.

In May 2020, we published an ambitious vision for rapid charging infrastructure along strategic roads in England. The Government will invest £950 million through the Rapid Charging Fund (RCF) in future proofing grid capacity at motorway and major A road service areas to prepare the network for uptake of zero emission cars and vans ahead of need. The RCF will ensure they have the connections to meet future demand for high powered chargepoints.