Transport Insights

Very junior housing minister Keir Mather has replied to a parliamentary question about electric vehicle chargepoints with a promise to continue to monitor something it is not currently monitoring.

Shadow transport secretary (and former transport minister) Richard Holden asked:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many public electric vehicle chargepoints have been installed but are not operational due to grid connection delays or other technical issues.

Mather replied:

The Government does not hold a centralised figure on the number of public electric vehicle chargepoints that have been installed but are not yet operational due to grid connection delays or other technical issues.

However, he added:

In December 2024, the Government published the outcome of a review aimed at improving the grid connection process for EV charging infrastructure.

That review stated:

CPOs [charge point operators] have raised concerns that when infrastructure installations are completed, they can experience long waits before energisation.  

It added:

Delays in energisation mean chargepoints cannot be used by EV drivers. This may dissuade internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle owners from making the switch to an EV. There is a reputational risk of having chargepoints installed with consumers unable to use them. 

Delays in energisation have financial implications for CPOs. While they are waiting for the asset to be energised, there is no revenue being generated from the chargepoint.  

Returning to Mather, he told Holden:

Since then, the Energy Networks Association has launched a Transport Decarbonisation Portal with guidance on grid connections, and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles has collated and shared best practice from distribution network operators and chargepoint operators regarding energisation timeframes.

The Government will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these actions to determine whether further measures are needed.

So, the government wrote about a problem that it has no data on and will continue to monitor it.

Based on what?