Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the merits of area-wide tenders of public electric vehicle charge points in The Netherlands and elsewhere to secure the coverage required to support the electric vehicle transition.

The Government always carefully follows international developments and, where appropriate, looks to learn lessons for its approach in the UK. This is supported by our membership of the international Zero Emission Vehicle Alliance, which includes other leading countries and jurisdictions such as the Netherlands, California and Norway. In the UK the Government has taken the approach that the roll out of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints should be market led with specific targeted support for certain areas such as the On-street Recharging Scheme (ORCS), the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) and the public-private £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF). We are drawing on international experience, for example in our support of a roaming solution to enable easy payment for EV charging. As we move towards mass transition for electric vehicles the Government will carefully consider what further measures can be taken to ensure the roll out of a comprehensive charging network.