Western Power Distribution, the electricity distribution network operator (DNO) for the Midlands, South Wales and South West England, have recently announced that they expect a 16-fold increase in electric vehicles by 2023. As a result, they have set out plans to drastically increase the quantity and quality of power infrastructure in the area.
WPD’s new EV Strategy document states, “With EV adoption increasing at the current rate, it is expected some 217,000 chargers will be connected to the network by 2023”. These figure are based on the fact that 13,500 new chargers were installed in March 2020 alone.
The DPO also outlined the need for flexible charging solutions including timed connections, smart charging and vehicle-to-grid initiatives. This is seen as a very important factor for future EV charging in order to accommodate the needs of all users and the population in aggregate. Moreover, they have identified Park & Ride sites and long stay car parks as the most viable options for short term scalability. That said, the main hurdle they need to overcome is the potential for the network to become overloaded if charging sites are too heavily clustered. The bulk of their research is aimed at ‘throttling back the load’ to avoid local grids being overwhelmed.
On a national scale, electric vehicle infrastructure also received significant investment from the Department for transport who have confirmed part-funding for new high-powered chargers. The Rapid Charging Fund aims to create six high-powered chargers in each motorway service station in England by 2023. By the end of 2035, they will have part-financed installation of around 6,000 rapid and ultra-rapid chargers on major UK roads.
Management of the UK’s travel infrastructure is devolved to national governments but there has been a real drive across the board. The department for Transport calculates that no electric vehicle owner in mainland UK is more than 25 miles away from an open-access charge point. However, the real problem is the lack of standardisation and the main aim is to ensure that any new installations are universally usable and future-proofed for any further developments in the industry.
If you are an individual looking to switch to an electric vehicle or a company owner looking to convert some, or all, of your fleet then please get in touch to discuss this further. A member of our team would be happy to talk to you and answer any questions that you have. Call us on 0141 280 8890 or drop us an email at info@britetechnicalservices.co.uk.
We also have a variety of platforms available with extensive information about electric vehicles (brite-ev.com), EV chargepoints (evchargepoints.com) and EV accessories (briteaccessories.com).