SSEN calls for UK government to make EV charging points universal by 2025

New York — Electricity distribution network operator Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has called for the UK government to make access to electric vehicle charging points universal.

It said July 20 in its accelerating a green recovery plan that this could be done by the government working with industry to roll out the world's most extensive EV charging network by 2025, which would empower individuals to switch to EVs.

SSEN, which is owned by SSE, noted that transport is the biggest single emitter of carbon and it is estimated that an 11,000% increase in EVs would be needed in the Central Southern England and North of Scotland regions alone to meet net zero targets.

Meanwhile, the UK currently only has 32,000 public EV charging points for its entire 67 million population.

"In England, 81% of owner occupier households have access to off-street parking and will be able to access low cost EV charging with time of use tariffs at home, but this only includes 50% of the private-rented sector and just 25% of local authority housing," the operator said.

SSEN suggested in its plan that the universal provision of charge points could be secured through electricity networks working with local authorities on area-wide tenders.

"This will support a cost-effective transition to a system that provides access to EV charging capability to communities without access to off-street parking and in locations where local businesses are reliant on footfall like town centres and seasonal tourist areas," it said.

The operator pointed to the example set by the Netherlands, where an area-wide tender process for a network of public EV charge points in January 2020 led to 20,000 charging points being contracted across an area covering 3.2 million people.

SSEN said the UK government should replicate the Dutch model to accelerate the provision of EV charging infrastructure in a "fair and cost-effective way."

SSE managing director Colin Nicol said the company was ready to support and accelerate the green recovery, and delivering charge points across the UK would support green jobs and spread investment.

"Local authorities should be empowered on this journey. We want to unlock and enable the communities we serve to realise their net zero ambitions. Local Area Energy Plans, will allow targeted investment, avoiding unnecessary cost and disruption in the transition to net zero," he said.

"Universal access to EV charge points is critical to a fair transition. With the right policies the UK could have the world's most extensive EV charging network by 2025, and ensure no one is left behind."

SSEN noted that the UK's Committee on Climate Change had found that strategically planning and investing in the UK's electricity networks could avoid £34 billion ($43.2 billion) of unnecessary expenditure between now and 2035.

SSE itself has announced £7.5 billion worth of investment to 2025 to help spur a green economy recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, including investing in low carbon projects and creating and supporting over 100,000 jobs across the UK.

Besides the call for universal EV charging points, SSEN also included nine other proposals in its green recovery acceleration plan, including bringing forward the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars, allowing revenue from Clean Air Zones to go toward EV infrastructure and giving communities greater say in their energy future.

It added that standardization of charging, allowing any EVs to be plugged into any charge point and no multiple of accounts, cards or apps being required was also key in getting more people to move to EVs.

"Incentives to make the switch and enable cars and vans to be used as 'batteries' could also support flexible national and local electricity grids and help keep costs down, whilst encouraging the development of UK gigafactories to build the batteries needed for transport decarbonisation could create an army of green jobs and ensure the UK creates and retains a global competitive edge in the EV supply chain," it said.

SSE, which operates the seventh largest private vehicle fleet in the UK and the largest in Scotland, has pledged to switch 3,500 of its vehicles to electric by 2030.