The UK competition authority has urged the government to intervene in the EV charger market to prevent “charging deserts” and increase availability in locations outside of London that remain underserved.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also said it has launched an investigation into the dominance of one vendor, Electric Highway, in the fast charging network at motorway service stations.
Electric cars are an integral part of the UK’s plan to achieve net carbon emissions by 2050 to alleviate the climate crisis, and the government announced in 2020 that it would ban sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030.
However, the industry has long argued that much more public investment is needed to solve a chicken and egg problem: some consumers are discouraged from buying an electric car due to poor charger availability, but chargers are unwilling to invest until enough Consumers bought them.
Forecasts cited by the CMA indicate that the public charging network will have to be expanded by at least ten times from currently 25,000 to 280,000 to 480,000 public charging points by 2030. A quarter of UK households – 8 million – will not be able to install chargers at home.
However, a regulator study published on Friday indicated the British are facing a “zip code lottery” for access to public chargers. Outside London there are only 1,000 on-street chargers in the whole of the UK, while in the capital there are 4,700.
The CMA said the government needs to accelerate investments in fast charging networks, provide local authorities with more funding and assistance to invest in charging networks, and make it easier and cheaper for businesses to plug new chargers into the grid. The government should also consider allocating additional funding for the freeway in more remote locations, the regulator said.
It also raised serious concerns about the dominance of Electric Highway, a subsidiary of privately owned energy company Gridserve, in providing the express highway charging network. Electric Highway has exclusive contracts with Roadchef, Moto and Extra, highway service providers that cover approximately two-thirds of the UK’s motorway service stations.
“We are concerned that these agreements are raising the barriers to entry for other charging point operators,” the CMA said, adding that they could undermine the government’s £ 950 million fast-charging fund that is investing in charging infrastructure on busy routes.
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In a statement, Gridserve said its chargers already comply with the CMA’s principles of being open to all.
It stated: “Our focus is on finding a way forward that addresses the concerns raised by the CMA, allows us to keep the momentum and continue to rapidly deliver the plans and investments for the net zero charging infrastructure whose implementation we have worked so hard. “
Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, the energy company that sold the Electric Highway network to Gridserve in June, said, “We remain confident that no competition laws have been violated. We haven’t hindered the electric vehicle charging market – we created it a decade ago to fuel the electric car revolution in the UK. “
The CMA also warned of possible “subscription traps” for access to fragmented charging point payment systems. Only 9% of public charging stations offer the option of contactless payment by bank account – a stark contrast to petrol stations, which are open almost continuously to all drivers who do not have an account.
Andrea Cocelli, Managing Director of CMA, said: “Some areas of the rollout are going well and the UK network is growing – but it is clear that other parts, such as motorway service stations and on-street charging, are facing much bigger hurdles.
“Action needs to be taken now to tackle the zip code lottery for electric vehicle charging as we near the 2030 sales ban on new gasoline and diesel cars.”
The UK auto industry supported the call for urgent action. Mike Hawes, executive director of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the government must “make recharging as easy and accessible as refueling”.
“This means that the number of charging points, especially on residential streets and in rural areas, will be increased dramatically to ensure their reliability and to make it easier for drivers to pay,” he said.
The Department of Transportation pointed to £ 1.3 billion in funding for new charging infrastructure. A spokesperson said: “We want charging stations to be accessible, affordable and safe, so we welcome the CMA’s report and will carefully consider the findings and recommendations.”
