Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the oil sector on introducing charging points for electric vehicles at (a) service stations and (b) petrol forecourts.

The Government has had a number of discussions with representatives of the oil sector about the provision of electric vehicle charge points at service stations and petrol forecourts. We are encouraging the private sector to invest in and operate a self-sustaining public network supported by the right policy framework. Only last week, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Transport met with automotive industry leaders, where there was a discussion about having the right charging infrastructure in place and a number of new commitments about charging were made to make electric vehicles more convenient than ever to own. The Government’s view is that the market is often better placed to identify the right locations for chargepoints and it is essential that viable commercial models are in place to ensure continued maintenance and improvements to the network. As evidence of this, BP Chargemaster, the UK’s largest electric car charge point provider, announced last month that it will install 400 points capable of ultra-fast 150kW charging by 2021 – including 100 at 50 sites by the end of 2019.