Electric Vehicles: Transition

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

My noble friend raises some crucial points. When I go home, I have to tell people that, in going around London, one of the most dangerous exercises is crossing the road because of the fear of unregulated cycles coming through. We have had many debates on this. I do not have a definite direction for my noble friend, but I know that he will maintain a strong interest in this area and will make sure that, as we move forward, we take everyone with us to achieve better results.

[Lord Evans of Rainow (Con)]

Going back to rural areas and the electric vehicle charging infrastructure, is the Minister aware that, if you have a drive, you will have to dig it up to put new cabling in because older housing stock is not capable of taking the new power? In rural areas, 5G is intermittent or non-existent, so the charge point does not speak to the internet and therefore the smart meter. To add to that, it is not smart enough to log on to the house’s domestic wifi, so the box is not able to communicate with the app. Rural infrastructure is not good enough to go along with the Government’s noble aims.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I have a feeling that the noble Lord might be speaking from experience given the depth of his knowledge. I met my neighbour—not that we live in a particularly rural area—who had these issues. That is why the Government are investing so significantly into the whole area of charging. One of the issues that really aggrieves me, living in a city such as Leeds where we have a lot of terraced houses, is that back-to-back houses do not have the potential for a garage. But that is why I really welcome the £25 million specifically going into that work. We know this is challenging and we know that there are a whole variety of different circumstances, but with proper consultation and engagement through local authorities in our local areas, I think we can move forward.