More than five percent of electric vehicle chargers in the UK are unusable, Channel 4’s Dispatches programme has found. Working with EV-driver app, Zap-Map, Dispatches sampled one day in September and found that more than 1300 chargers, or 5.2 percent, weren’t usable for drivers to charge their vehicles.
Of this number, 840 were slow chargers, which were out of service.
Almost 10 percent of rapid chargers – those which drivers often need on long journeys to continue their trip – were also found not to be working properly.
Crucially, more than 30 new ultra rapid chargers were faulty, which accounts for more than three percent of the total number in the UK.
The charging network in the UK has been developing over the last 10 years, with the Government and other organisations investing in its continued progress.
READ MORE: Thugs strip £10,000 of parts from ‘devastated’ woman’s Toyota
“They are focused on providing really good units, which are reliable and robust. But it needs to improve.”
In the last year, charging points have increased by approximately 40 percent but Dispatches reveals there was a 66 percent increase in plug-in EVs over the same time.
To support the uptake of electric vehicles, the Government will provide an additional £620million for public charging in residential areas and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.
This is building on the £1.9billion that was committed with the 2020 Government spending review.
Despite this, the Channel 4 programme found that some charging points remain broken for extended periods.
One EV charging point at the Metrocentre in Gateshead had been out of service for a staggering six years.
Gateshead Metrocentre replied to Dispatches saying: “The charger was a trialled test site prototype with now obsolete technology which cannot be fixed and will be removed.
“All our fast and rapid chargers are operational and new EV parking bays will also be operational in 2022.”
In July, the Competitions and Markets Authority said that Great Britain could require 10 times as many EV charging stations before 2030 to keep up with the pace of EV sales
In response to the Dispatches findings the Department for Transport said: “We want to make charging an electric vehicle as easy and accessible as refuelling a petrol or diesel car.
“That’s why the Government has just committed £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles on top of the £1.9billion from Spending Review 2020.”
The Truth About Electric Cars: Dispatches is on Channel 4 on Monday November 22 at 8:30pm.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Automobiles News Click Here
