Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the quantum of national electricity demand arising from the predicted increase in the number of electric cars between 2018 and 2040.

In National Grid’s 2017 Future Energy Scenarios, electric vehicles could potentially increase peak load on the electricity system by up to 10GW by 2040 under their highest impact scenario. National Grid say that this can be reduced to around 5GW by 2040 if the charging by electric vehicles is managed through smart charging.

Therefore, the Government is taking powers as part of the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill to mandate that all charge points sold or installed in the UK must be ‘smart’ enabled. This will enable consumers to shift charging away from the peak demand periods, benefitting the electricity system and lowering their electricity bills.