Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy on charges levied for the use of public charging points for electric cars, and how they intend to ensure that prices are set a level low enough to incentivise their use.

We are committed to supporting electric vehicles and do not want to see prohibitive pricing become a barrier to continued uptake. The Government’s view is that pricing and pricing models are ultimately commercial matters for chargepoint network operators or host sites, however we will continue to monitor developments closely.

Public chargepoints play an important role in ensuring drivers can top-up their charge where that is necessary mid-journey. We anticipate that the vast majority of electric vehicle motorists will continue to charge their vehicles at home overnight, so the utilisation of the public network of chargepoints is different to conventional petrol or diesel vehicles’ use of petrol stations. Public chargepoints will play an important role in ensuring drivers can top-up their charge where that is necessary mid-journey.

We are currently consulting on a proposal to take powers to enable the introduction of a minimum standard of pricing information for electric vehicle recharging and refuelling. This could make public charging easier for electric vehicle drivers and encourage a more competitive market. The measure is proposed for inclusion in the Modern Transport Bill.