Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what support his Department is providing to local authorities in (a) Merseyside and (b) the North West region to (i) encourage public uptake in electric vehicles and (b) ensure appropriate infrastructure is in place to facilitate increased usage.

Building on the £1.9 billion from Spending Review 2020, the Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). 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.

The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities (LAs) to provide public chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking and £20 million is available this financial year under the scheme to ensure more LAs and residents can benefit. Further local authority support is funded by the Department for Transport and administered by Energy Saving Trust, who offer free expert advice and support to LAs throughout the application process.

As of 01 January 2022, local authorities in the North-West of the UK have been awarded over £520,000 through the ORCS, to install 166 chargepoints across the region. This includes 68 chargepoints delivered by Liverpool City Council, and 40 which are being installed by Wirral Council.

Government’s forthcoming EV Infrastructure Strategy will define our vision for the continued roll-out of a world-leading charging infrastructure network across the UK. The strategy will clearly establish government’s expectations for the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders. LAs have a key role in planning and enabling the delivery of chargepoints to meet the needs of their local communities and areas, with particular focus on supporting those who do not have access to off-street parking.

Government is further incentivising the uptake of EVs through the Plug in Vehicle Grants accessible to LAs to convert their fleets and to members of the public to help reduce the up-front purchase price of EVs. These grants have been in place for over a decade and in 2020 Government announced a further a £582 million for the plug-in car, van, motorcycle and taxi grants to 2022/23, and additional funding for targeted incentives has been made available in November 2021. Since 2011, the plug-in vehicle grants have supported over 430,000 ultra-low emission vehicles, of which over 290,000 are zero emission vehicles (ZEVs).

To date, the plug-in car grant has provided over £1.3 billion to support the early market for ultra-low emission vehicles. In 2021 industry statistics show that battery electric vehicles were more 11.6% of the new car market, up 76.3% on 2020.