Editorial

All Government-funded electric car chargepoints to be smart by next summer

All vehicle chargepoints to use innovative ‘smart’ technology by July 2019, promises

Posted 17 December 2018 by Gary Flood


All government supported home chargepoints for electric vehicles must use innovative ‘smart’ technology from July 2019, says the Department for Transport.

In practical terms, that means they must be able to be remotely accessed and capable of receiving, interpreting and reacting to a signal, says Whitehall, which also confirmed grants to install chargepoints at home and in the workplace will stay at their current level of up to £500 – making charging easier for consumers and ensuring that plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles can be “used to their full potential”.

The reason: smart charging can  reduce high peaks of electricity demands, minimising the cost of electric vehicles to the electricity system and therefore keep costs down for consumers by encouraging off-peak charging, the announcements claims.

“The government wants the UK to be the best place in the world to build and own an electric vehicle, and through leadership and innovation it is paving the way to a zero emission future,” stated Road Minister Jesse Norman, who went on to add that state money has so far supported the installation of over 100,000 home chargepoints.

“Now the measures announced today will give more people the opportunity to make the move to electric.”

Automotive Minister Richard Harrington added, “Today’s measures will make it easier for consumers to move towards electric vehicles, helping us power towards a cleaner, greener future.”

The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme has supported the delivery of domestic chargepoints to consumers since 2014 and has delivered over 60,000 grants to date.

This summer the government published a so-day ‘Road to Zero‘ strategy, built around a core mission for all new cars and vans to be “effectively zero emission by 2040”, a programme it claims amounts to  £1.5 billion of investment and which thus represents one of the world’s “most comprehensive packages of support for zero-emission vehicles”.

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