Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to roll out more electric charging points in rural areas for (1) private motor vehicles, and (2) public transport vehicles.

The Government’s £381m Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund allocated funding to all local authorities in England to transform the availability of EV charging for drivers without off-street parking. LEVI funding allocations factored in the proportion of residents that are in rural areas, meaning local authorities in rural areas were allocated additional funding compared to urban ones.

To tackle the challenges faced by the Local Transport Authorities and bus operators when introducing zero emission buses (ZEBs) in rural areas, up to £25 million of the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas 2 (ZEBRA) funding programme was initially reserved for proposals to introduce ZEBs in rural areas.

Future funding to support the continued decarbonisation of the bus sector, as well as supporting local authorities deliver charging infrastructure in rural areas, will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.