As part of an effort to foster better, more eco-friendly transportation throughout the nation, the U.K. government has declared to double the annual fund for an electric car charging point.
Starting from 2021, the £10 million funds will allow the installation of nearly 3,600 electric car charging point each year, focusing mainly on residential roads.
This initiative will help drivers easily find and use charging points, making it convenient to charge their electric vehicles, no matter how close or far they are from home. It poses a huge advantage for drivers that don’t have parking garages or driveways but require reliable and affordable charge points to refill their electric vehicle batteries overnight.
Government exploration on the electric car charging point
The government is also exploring methods for presenting useful information about public charge points. For example, this data can include an electric car charging point’s location, its power ratings, and real-time elements such as if the point is working or if it’s occupied. This information will allow the intelligent use of open data for building smartphone applications that help drivers and passengers easily locate nearby charging points and plan their journeys accordingly.
The smart use of data can also be extremely valuable in satellite navigation systems and other types of route-mapping technology.
Not only does the increase in charge points make the entire process of electric vehicle charging a lot more convenient, but it will help reduce pollution and congestion on the roads as well. The government has been emphasizing on digitalization and decarburization using their transport strategy. However, there’s still a long way to go in order to keep up with ever-increasing environmental and technological demands.
Overall data:
- Currently, there are more than 24,000 public electric vehicle charge points around the UK. Almost 2,400 of these points are for “rapid” charging.
- At this time, the U.K. possesses one of the most extensive electric charging networks in Europe – there is a higher number of electric vehicle charging spots than petrol stations.
- Reports have revealed that in the UK., new car sales have decreased by 2.4 percent and the used car sales have decreased by 1.7% last year.
- On the other hand, the electric vehicle registrations grew 144 percent, meaning there were 37,850 electric vehicles on the road in 2019 compared to just 15,510 in 2018.
- Hybrid electric vehicles also increased last year by around 17 percent, taking the total of hybrid vehicles to 97,850 throughout the UK.
But even with these promising facts and figures, the quantity of electric cars still falls behind diesel and petrol cars. The UK. deals with many challenges such as electric charging infrastructures and driver’s views about electric vehicle range.
Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary, intends to “make electric cars the new normal.” By 2030, the government expects to have approximately 44 million electric vehicles on UK. roads. To match the figure, there must be at least three million electric chargers as well, which is nearly 15 times the present charger count. That’s huge to accomplish within the next decade, but with the announcement of doubling funds, the future for electric cars in the UK. seems highly promising.