Plan for Car Chargers in all New Homes in England

In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in the north-east of England on Monday, the prime minister will reveal plans, briefed as “world-leading”, to toughen up and improve regulations for new homes and buildings.Under the government’s plans, set out by the prime minister Boris Johnson at the CBI business leaders conference on Monday, new homes must be equipped with charging infrastructure from next year.  

Ross Easton, a director at the Energy Networks Association, added that while the plans for more home chargers was “great news for those living in new homes” the government “must make sure access to charging points is not exclusive, stressing that the charging points must be accessible to everyone.”

Sarah Winward-Kotecha, the director of electric vehicles at RAC raised concerns that it is important to note that a lot of newly built housing stock, said it was “important to remember that a lot of new housing stock in cities does not even come with parking, let alone charging points.

The motoring group has called for the government to make high-speed car charging available to more motorists by focusing on the roll out of rapid chargers in public areas so that

The government’s plans may have failed to consider that many new buildings are built without parking spaces for the sole reason of encouraging people to travel by public transport, which is better for the environment.

Home, Workplace and Destination Charging

The research and analysis conducted by the CMA reports that the UK has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by 2035 and moving to Net Zero by 2050. Transport, in particular cars, is the largest source of emissions (accounting for 27%). Transitioning from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles (EVs) is therefore key to reducing emissions and meeting Net Zero. Reflecting this, the UK Government has committed to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars/vans from 2030.

• Charging at home, work and at destinations is developing relatively well - with significant appetite for investment from a range of suppliers.

• We found that there are some immediate challenges for people when buying home charge points, as there can be limited support and information. Over time we anticipate that knowledge and awareness of home charging options will increase, but this should be monitored as the sector evolves.

• Open standards for controls and data used by home charge points can help to simplify and automate smart charging - enabling third-parties to develop innovative solutions and applications for controlling home charging and other home energy services.

• Without these in the longer-term people may not be able fully to benefit from smart home charging and flexibility in the electricity system, which offers savings and smooths demand on the network. More generally open standards can help to enable greater competition, as we’ve seen in other markets.

• We recommend that UK Government set open data and software standards so that people can maximise the benefits of smart charging and flexible home energy systems. We also strongly support Government plans to require new private charge points to be smart and meet minimum quality standards.

In Boris Johnson’s words – we cannot go on as we are, however, how will these changes impact on and cities, communities where financial impact of implementing this legislation will create an even bigger divide that the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ initiative should have addressed.