Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

(asked on 27th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the provision of facilities for recharging batteries of electric vehicles to households which do not have space to charge the vehicle from their own home; and what proportion of households do not have space to charge electric vehicles from their own home.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 10th February 2021

The Government recognises that not having access to off-street parking can be a significant barrier to motorists making the switch to zero emission vehicles and this is something we have sought to address. Local authorities are able to take advantage of the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS), which assists them with the cost of installing chargepoints on residential streets. To date the ORCS has supported over 100 local authorities to fund more than 3,800 chargepoints for residents who do not have off-street parking. The doubling of funding for the ORCS to £20 million announced in May last year by the Transport Secretary will allow local authorities to install up to 7,200 charging devices, making charging at home and overnight easier for those without an off-street parking space.

The Government also committed at Spending Review £90 million to fund local electric vehicle charging infrastructure, to support the roll out of larger, on-street charging schemes and rapid hubs in England. Details of this fund will be announced in due course.

Drivers without off-street parking at home can also take advantage of the Workplace Charging Scheme, which provides Government support of up to £350 towards the cost of installing a charge point socket for staff and fleet use, with a maximum of 40 sockets available per business. To date over 4,000 businesses have used this scheme to install over 12,000 chargepoint sockets. There are a growing number of solutions for drivers without private parking, such as initiatives like Community Charging, where those with personal chargepoints can share access with other residents.

The Government recognises the need to do more to address the challenges in this area and will continue to work with colleagues in Government and across industry to secure improvements for residents. We will continue to support industry and local authorities across the whole of the UK to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. A clear delivery plan will be published in 2021.

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