The Government has missed its end-of-year electric vehicle (EV) charging target for motorway service areas, new research from the RAC shows.
Ministers from the Department of Transport (DfT) planned to have at least six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at every motorway service by the end of 2023.
However, just 46 out of 119 sites (39 per cent) have met the target.
This is up 23 per cent from April, analysis by RAC from charger locator service Zapmap shows.
EV chargers target missed across UK with 25 per cent of service stations lacking charge points
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Four areas - Leicester Forest on both sides of the M1, Tebay South on the M6 and Barton Park on the A1(M) – have no charging facilities whatsoever.
Meanwhile, 18 service areas have no rapid charging facilities above 50kW.
Rapid charging points can add 100 miles of range to an EV in just over 30 minutes.
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An electric vehicle being chargedPAThe devices are seen as crucial in encouraging more motorists to make the switch from petrol or diesel to electric.
In spring 2023, the Government announced a £950million rapid charging fund that would support the rollout of the charge points across the UK.
The fund was set to be available for applications from last year, but has not yet been opened.
A DfT document from March 2022 stated that “many operators” of motorway services had “embraced the ambition” to install six chargers by the end of the year.
They said that “over 70 per cent” of locations had plans in place to deliver this.
The document added: “We will continue to work with site operators to ensure that every site is reached.”
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “It’s clear from our research that the Government has fallen well short of its target of having six high-powered chargers at every motorway service area in England.
Running costs for electric cars are usually much cheaper than petrol and diesel vehicles PA“There is undoubtedly an eagerness among chargepoint companies and motorway service operators to install these types of units but unfortunately, it’s often the high-power cabling to the grid that’s the major barrier which is out of their hands.
“More clearly needs to be done to make this process simpler than it is currently.
“Hopefully once the Government’s rapid charging fund kicks fully into action, some of these hurdles will be overcome.
“We continue to believe that the wide availability of ultra-rapid charging is crucial in giving both current and future EV drivers confidence to know they can easily make journeys beyond the range of their vehicles in a time-efficient way.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “The number of public chargepoints is surging across the country and around 96% of motorway services now offer charging facilities for drivers.
“As well as our £70 million pilot to help roll out ultra-rapid chargepoints on motorways, we are driving forward the biggest reforms to our electricity grid since the 1950s – halving the time it takes to build networks, and speeding up connections.”
There are around one million battery-electric vehicles in the UK, according to the RAC.
