Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that the technology required to make the 2035 goal on electric cars feasible will deliver the (a) fast and (b) long lasting charging required to meet the time constraints of people's working day.

Along with the private sector, the Government will invest £1 billion in charging infrastructure – making sure that everyone is within 30 miles of a rapid charging station. In July 2019 work commenced to determine a vision for a core rapid charger network on England’s strategic road network. This will report in Spring 2020. Highways England has committed £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every 20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network by 2020. Our jointly funded £400 million Chargepoint Infrastructure Investment Fund’s first investment round, worth a total of £70 million, will ensure the delivery of 3,000 rapid charging devices by 2024, more than doubling the current number of rapid charging devices.

As per our manifesto, on 4 February the Prime Minister announced that Government is consulting on bringing forward the end to the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 to 2035, or earlier if a faster transition appears feasible, as well as including hybrids for the first time. The position reflects the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC) advice that the phase out date should be 2035 or ideally 2030, and that only battery electric or other zero tailpipe emission vehicles should be permitted to be sold after this point. The CCC has advised that this is an important step in the UK’s aim to end our contribution to climate change by 2050. Stakeholders will have a diverse range of views on this subject so the consultation process will help inform our thinking on what the appropriate measures to achieve a faster transition will need to be.