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<p>Government and industry have supported the installation of over 25,000 publicly
available charging devices including more than 4,700 rapid devices. On average, over
500 new chargers are being added to the UK’s road network each month. A recent study
found that the UK now has more rapid chargers every 100 miles of key strategic road
than any country in Europe. In November 2020, we announced we will invest £1.3 billion
in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure over the next four years for
rapid chargepoints and installing more on-street chargepoints near homes and workplaces
to make charging as easy as refuelling a petrol or diesel car.</p><p> </p><p>By 2023,
we aim to have at least six high powered, open access chargepoints at motorway service
areas in England, with some larger sites having ten to twelve. By 2030, we are planning
for there to be around 2,500 high powered chargepoints across England’s motorways
and major A roads, and, by 2035, we expect the number to increase to around 6,000.
Government is working with the private sector to deliver this wherever possible.</p><p>
</p><p>For example, there are plans for further investment into the Electric Highway
along the Strategic Road Network giving drivers more confidence when making longer
journeys. GRIDSERVE are undertaking a programme of upgrades to the existing hardware,
which will include the option to pay by contactless methods at the chargepoint and
they are on track to complete upgrades to all existing 50kW chargers before the end
of the year. Tesla also recently confirmed plans to open the Tesla Supercharger network
up to vehicles from other manufacturers. The government has welcomed these developments.</p><p>
</p><p>For motorists who do not have access to off-street parking, the On-Street Residential
Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is available to all UK local authorities to provide public
chargepoints for their residents without access to private parking. The ORCS has supported
49 different local authorities to install over 1,400 chargepoints. A further 88 local
authorities have also been awarded grant funding, providing more than 3,200 on-street
public chargepoints with their installations yet to be completed. This year, £20 million
is available under ORCS to ensure more local authorities and residents can benefit
from the scheme. Government also committed at Spending Review the £90 million Local
EV Infrastructure fund, to support the roll out of larger, on-street charging schemes
and local rapid hubs in England.</p><p> </p><p>In Spring 2021 we consulted to improve
the consumer experience at public chargepoints. We included a section to improve the
reliability across the charging network to ensure that consumers can rely on chargepoints
wherever they are travelling in the UK. We will publish our government response in
Autumn and lay legislation in early 2022.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>
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