Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on the implementation of the rapid charging fund.

There has been strong progress with installation of chargepoints on the Strategic Road Network. There are now over 5,250 open-access rapid and ultra-rapid chargers within one mile of the Strategic Road Network (Zapmap, January 2025), of which 1,180 are at motorway service areas (based on industry data). The latter is up around 165% over the last two years.

The market had changed significantly since the Rapid Charging Fund was announced, including increased private sector investment in infrastructure, a changed regulatory environment, and improvements in battery technology.

The Government will ensure taxpayers' money is used as efficiently as possible to make the transition to electric vehicles a success. The Rapid Charging Fund pilot was launched to better understand where best to target government support. We will apply learning from the pilot to continue working with industry to boost charging infrastructure on the Strategic Road Network.