Ofgem will install 1,800 new ultra-rapid charge points for EVs
Ofgem, the UK energy market regulator, outlined on Monday its plan to invest £300m in over 200m infrastructure projects to ready the UK for the future of electric transport.
The plans will come into action over the next two years and is part of a wider £40bn project to move the UK to a system that uses low-carbon transport and heating.
Boris Johnson has previously confirmed plans to forbid the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 in order to reduce its emissions to net-zero by 2050. However, the country may well need to upgrade its infrastructure significantly to support the future influx of electric vehicles.
Ofgem has confirmed that it will install 1,800 new ultra-rapid charge points for EVs, thereby tripling the current network, on motorway service areas and trunk road locations across the UK.
Electric Car Owners to be Rewarded for Charging at Off-Peak Times
Financial rewards will be given to up to 25,000 drivers of electric vehicles as an incentive to charge their cars at off-peak times as part of a wider plan to reduce pressure on the power grid.
UK Power Networks, which runs electricity networks across London and surrounding regions, is anticipating up to 4.5m electric vehicles charging on the network by 2030, up from current levels at 150,000.
Sotiris Georgiopoulos, head of smart grid development at UK Power Networks, said that people usually charge their vehicles from 5:30pm to 9pm.
Sotiris Georgiopoulos, its head of smart grid development, said that people tended to put their cars on charge from about 5.30pm until around 9pm. He added that it would be necessary to take action to avoid overrunning the network.
“The network may need some additional capacity,” Georgiopoulos said. “Our traditional solution would be to say, ‘OK, let’s upgrade the local infrastructure’.”
