EV News Round-Up: RAC Motorway Charging Report and UK ZEV Mandates Kick-In

2023 was undoubtedly an important year for EV.

Despite a rollback of the ICE sales ban to 2035, the UK saw its 50,000th charge point installed on the public network, a thriving EV fleet market pushing sales, and the announcement and initial implementation of the first public charging regulations designed to help ensure a positive driver experience.

With this in mind, it's important we keep this progress and driver-focus up as we head into the new year. 

We published a more detailed 2023 summary and future predictions piece here, which covers our takes on:

• Prioritising customer experience
• The importance of e-Roaming and providing easy payment methods
• Why CPOs will need to think smart about managing grid strain to remain competitive

Our very own Modestas Gliaudelis was also asked by publication EV Fleet World to join with other industry experts in sharing what he felt would be the biggest EV trends in the coming year.

With over 10 years of experience in the industry, you can read more on his predictions in the article here.

An RAC report last week has concluded that the government has been unable to deliver targets of at least six ultra-rapid chargers across all motorway services by 2023.

According to data from the report, only four in ten (39%) service stations in the UK currently meet this criteria. 

Designed to tackle fears of range anxiety and charger availability for drivers on the go, rapid and ultra-rapid charge points in convenient locations are seen as key components of delivering a successful charging infrastructure across the country.

The targets themselves did attract some criticism from some in the EV industry, however, with Dominic Rowles, head of automotive at NTT DATA UK&I claiming they were ‘overambitious’ to begin with, citing the missed target as a minor setback caused by insufficient access to the national grid for charge point operators.

While plans for installation haven’t progressed at the Government’s desired speed, there are still options for rapid charging at service stations, with 400 rapid stations available across England. 

And these facilities are only expected to improve, with the recent investment of £2bn from Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Budget Statement tipped to provide the financial investment needed to allow service stations to expand existing rapid charging sites, according to WhatCar.

Of course, there are still several tools useful to site expansion that can be utilised to help charge point operators reach their delivery goal in existing sites. Software features such as built-in load management, for example, can enable site expansion of up to six times its original capacity without having to undergo these often prohibitively costly local grid upgrades.

A more detailed breakdown of Clenergy EV’s latest feature will be coming soon on our website and social channels, so keep an eye out.

The first stages of the UK Government’s ZEV mandate has come into force as of this week, meaning that 22% of all new vehicle sales must be from zero-emission vehicles from now on.

The mandates, introduced in the wake of the rollback of the ICE sales ban last September, dictate an incremental increase in the percentage of new vehicles sold by car manufacturers that must be zero emissions, starting with this 22% figure.

The threshold will rise annually until it reaches 100% by 2035.

These divisive rulings have been both challenged and supported by manufacturers, with carmakers such as Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Nissan lobbying the UK Government to weaken or delay these rules.

Conversely, Volkswagen, Ford and Tesla have each argued that the mandates could be tougher.

Responses to the rulings cite uneven progress in the market as one of the reasons for objection to the mandate, with some manufacturers worried that the mandates have come too late to shift production focus without causing significant issues.

Despite these varying reactions among car manufacturers, the introduction of the new mandate is poised to help streamline mass adoption, and shift focus on making EVs a more viable option for the average consumer.

BT Group has announced plans to convert inactive street cabinets into EV charging stations across the UK.

The group hopes that the cabinets, currently used to store broadband and telephone wires, could provide locations for an extra 60,000 charge points up and down the country.

With the cabinets already supplied with power direct from the national grid, this trial will prove an interesting development to the delivery of residential EV charging. We'll be keeping a close eye on its implementation, with the fact that installers would not need to wire a new connection proving a bonus as the UK pushes for its target of 300,000 EV chargers on the public network by 2030.

Finally in our round-up for last week, Lancashire Live published a story that could be familiar to all of us.

According to the local publication, local council Ribble Valley has been battling with the issue of supplying its chargers with sufficient signal to process transactions from drivers.

For EV drivers who have tried to access charging stations at more remote locations, this will be an issue you’ve encountered before.

There is a solution, however.

Often software providers are able to supply drivers across their network with free RFID cards that only require a simple ‘tap and go’ use from drivers.

That means your ability to pay for a charge isn’t dependent on WiFi signal, as your card can be connected to an account and billed that way.

It’s worth considering if it’s a persistent issue!

That’s all from our EV news round-up this week. 

Make sure to visit our Clenergy EV socials and insights page to keep up with all the exciting news soon to come. And if you’re looking to improve your EV charging experience, you can submit your details into our contact form below to receive a commitment-free product demonstration.