A new report published by the Government-backed Electric Vehicle (EV) Energy Taskforce has set out how the Government and industry can encourage investment in public charging networks in the UK.
The report, which you can read here, sets out a series of non-financial and financial recommendations that will help build a thriving public charging network that continues to meet demand long into the future.
Non-financial recommendations include:
- Best practice frameworks for deployment and rollout of chargers, to significantly reduce the time and resource needed for rollouts.
- Local authority education, tenders, and support, to empower local authorities with the skills and knowledge needed to deliver rollouts.
- Greater transparency about grid connections, especially around costs, which are high and represent a significant barrier to entry.
- Shared municipal assets, where charging infrastructure supports both residents, visitors and businesses for higher utilisation.
Financial recommendations include:
- Revenue guarantees for sites which are less likely to be funded by the private sector, to encourage different investors
- A blended finance fund of public and private capital, to incentivise investment in charging infrastructure and reduce capital barriers
- Utilisation linked loans that reduce dependency on debt capital from parent companies, to unlock financial agility in the sector
- Battery storage co-deployment, to reduce the overall investment in grid upgrade required (energy storage systems supplement the grid).
Overall, the EV Energy Taskforce is thorough and helpful, providing a wide range of recommendations and examples for the public charger rollout, which is expected to soar in 2022 as vendors try to make supply meet demand.
