Garages and Petrol Stations: Alternative Fuels

(asked on 6th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing a requirement on petrol forecourts to provide (1) electric recharging, and (2) hydrogen refuelling, facilities; and what assessment they have made of the feasibility of such a policy.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 20th July 2020

The Government’s view is that the market is often better placed to identify the right locations for chargepoints and we encourage the private sector to invest in and operate a self-sustaining public network supported by the right policy framework. On 1 April 2020, there were 17,947 public electric vehicle charging devices available in the UK, 3,107 of which were rapid devices. In the first three months of 2020, 1,436 more devices were available in total, an increase of 9%. Rapid devices also increased by 283, up 10% on the previous quarter.

The Automated and Electric Vehicles Act (AEVA) provides the Government with a range of powers to improve the charging experience for current and future users, including compelling fuel retailers to install chargepoints. The Government has had a number of discussions with representatives of fuel retailers about the provision of electric vehicle chargepoints at service stations and petrol forecourts, and we shall continue to explore options with them.

In May, the Government published an ambitious vision for rapid charging infrastructure along strategic roads in England over the next decade, setting out the number of rapid chargepoints that will be located across motorways and major A roads to meet the future demand for electric vehicle charging. Currently, a driver is never more than 25 miles away from a rapid (50 kilowatt) chargepoint anywhere along England’s motorways and major A roads, with a total of 809 open-access rapid chargepoints, as of 1 January 2020. This includes an average of 2 rapid chargepoints at motorway service areas with more being rolled out over the next year.

The UK is well placed to be a leader in hydrogen fuel cell powered transportation and we are supporting hydrogen where the market favours its use. The UK has one of the largest hydrogen refuelling station networks in Europe. The Government’s £23m Hydrogen for Transport Programme is increasing the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles and delivering new refuelling stations and upgrading some existing stations, as well as deploying hundreds of new hydrogen vehicles.

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