The UK Government should act to ensure EV chargers are more evenly distributed around the country, rather than being concentrated in London, according to Fleet Evolution.
The salary sacrifice and fleet management firm cited data showing there were more public chargers in the London borough of Westminster than in the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, and Newcastle combined.
Fleet Evolution founder and managing director Andrew Leech said: “At a time when many companies are looking to go electric to meet national and local sustainability targets, they are being held back by a lack of investment in public charge points across the north – and especially in our major northern cities which have some of the densest populations in the country.
“It does seem that, away from the Westminster bubble, there is again one rule for some and another rule for the rest of us.”
Recent research for Fleet Evolution showed 25% of people hesitant to switch to EVs blamed a lack of public charging, while 67% of those surveyed said they did not live within five minutes of a charger – although further research suggested some of these were mistaken.
Leech continued: “While the figures are growing nationally, and the Prime Minster announced in November that up to 145,000 charge points are to be installed across the country each year through to 2030, it seems ludicrous that there is still such a huge disparity between north and south – especially when our survey showed that public charging was of such great concern to so many people.
“City councils need to step up to the plate and install the requisite infrastructure to support the growing numbers of EVs. Merely creating clean air zones without offering sufficient charge points is simply kicking the can down the road.”
Leech also criticised an imminent reduction of eligibility for the EV Homecharge Scheme grant.
He said: “When you factor in the well-publicised rising cost of electricity from April, it’s clear charging costs are going to rise. The withdrawal of government funding looks particularly ill-timed.”
