What does the EV transition look like in one of England’s most rural regions?
On 4 March, Esme Yuill – our Head of External Affairs – attended Parliament to provide evidence to the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry, “Supercharging the EV transition.”
Esme shared Transport East’s perspective on the rollout of public EV charging infrastructure across the East, using evidence from our EV reports and highlighting how our Local Transport Authority partners are navigating the transition. While the rollout of publicly available charging infrastructure has broadly kept pace with increasing EV ownership, the growth of both has begun to slow over the last couple of years.
A key challenge is ensuring infrastructure is delivered in the right places. Charging provision is currently concentrated in urban areas and locations with off-street parking, while rural communities – who are typically more dependent on private vehicles – also need EV charging infrastructure delivered to speed uptake of EVs.
Esme also highlighted some uncertainty among Local Transport Authority partners about the implications of the Planning and Infrastructure Act for the consent process for on-street chargers. Further guidance would be welcomed to help support delivery.
Finally, the committee welcomed Transport East’s reminder that EVs cannot be seen as a silver bullet for decarbonising transport. Our modelling shows that very high EV uptake could reduce walking, cycling and rail travel, potentially impacting congestion, health, road safety and the quality of our places.
As the transition to EV continues, Transport East will keep supporting our partners through evidence and engagement, and using our united voice to ensure publicly available charging infrastructure supports all communities in the region.