Electric vehicle charging network will be 99 percent reliable – new law

The Government is attempting to tackle the varying reliability of the UK’s charging network. And now, under a new law coming in later this year, the country’s electric vehicle rapid charging network will be required to have a 99 percent reliability rate.

Ministers hope that the new law will eradicate range anxiety and create a “world-class” charging grid.

The legislation also includes a £1.6billion investment in 300,000 new charge points across the country.

If that comes to fruition, the UK will have five times as many traditional fuel pumps currently in operation.

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: “We’ve committed £1.6billion to support the rollout of charge points across the UK and, as part of our recently published EV Infrastructure Strategy, we will set new legal requirements to improve reliability at public charge points.”

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At this point in 2015, there were only around 2000 devices in operation, rising to 10,000 in 2018.

The news comes after it was revealed that EV drivers could charge their vehicles for free with a fifth of UK’s EV charging points still free to use.

The figure provided by Zap-Map showed last year there were 25,000 charging devices listed on their service, and almost 5,350 were free to use.

In Northern Ireland, 70 percent of the charge points are free, thanks to the national network ecarNI.

Similarly, 1,000 of the 1,400 EV chargers from Government-backed operator ChargePlace Scotland do not require a fee.

On top of that, motorists can drive to one of the National Trust properties equipped with EV charge points to receive a top-up in a reverse donation from the charity.

Many supermarket chains also provide free EV chargers.

And on some dealer forecourts, drivers will not pay a penny for recharging a brand-specific electric car.