Asked by: Lord Deben (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual amount to date received in value added tax from electric vehicles using public charging points.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The information is not available. HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on public electric vehicle charging points. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring that electric vehicle charging points are available throughout the UK, in the context of the Rapid Charging Fund pilot.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is working with industry to deliver electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
The management of motorways and major roads is a devolved policy area and as such the Rapid Charging Fund is England only. Certain Government funding schemes, namely the EV Chargepoint Grant, the Workplace Charging Scheme, and the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme, are available UK-wide.
In addition, funding has been awarded to projects in the devolved administrations to support chargepoint installation - for example through the Levelling Up Fund, where in Northern Ireland, ESB has received £3 million towards the upgrade of the EV charging network.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he is taking steps to increase the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for use by the logistics and warehousing sector.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is working with fleets and industry bodies to understand the diverse charging requirements of fleets, including those used by the logistics and warehousing sector.
Through its Workplace Charging Scheme, the Government offers support to small and medium sized business for the installation of chargepoints, with grants of up to £350 per socket. As of 1 July 2023, 46,172 workplace installations have benefited from this scheme.
The Government is also working with industry stakeholders to develop a zero emission HGV and coach infrastructure strategy for publication in 2024. The strategy will set strategic direction and outline the roles and responsibilities of government and industry to deliver the refuelling and recharging infrastructure required to meet the end of sale dates for new non-zero emission HGVs.
Asked by: Ian Levy (Conservative - Blyth Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the roll-out of electric vehicle charging points on the motorway network.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Around 96% of motorway service areas (MSAs) in England have charging available. There are now 260 ultra-rapid (150kw+) chargepoints, and more than 480 open-access (can be used with any electric vehicle) rapid (50kW) and ultra-rapid chargepoints at MSAs in total.
The Rapid Charging Fund (RCF) will help to future-proof electrical capacity at strategic locations where it is not currently commercially viable for industry to do so in order to enable a visible, functional and long-distance charging network, which is vital for mass EV adoption.
The RCF will also support the market to deliver and grow by subsidising the uncommercial costs of new or additional electricity connections. In addition, the RCF will ensure that the private sector can continue to expand the charging network and future-proof electricity network capacity 10 years ahead to a minimum of 2035, with a stretch target of 2050.
A pilot for the RCF is expected to open for applications soon.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on using geospatial data to support the expansion of the electric vehicle charging network.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department uses geospatial data aggregated up to various output levels, which are published as Official Statistics. These can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/electric-vehicle-charging-infrastructure-statistics. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) then uses this data as part of its policy decision making process.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has had recent discussions with energy companies on the impact of reduced network coverage for smart meters on the ability of people to install domestic electric vehicle chargers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Direct Communications Company (DCC) Wide Area Network (WAN) coverage for smart meters has no impact on the ability of energy consumers to install electric vehicle charging points at their properties.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that electric vehicle charging infrastructure can also be used by (a) e-bikes and (b) e-scooters.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government encourages industry innovation in charging infrastructure. However, it has no plans to request that electric vehicle chargepoint operators adapt their infrastructure to allow e-scooters and e-bikes access.
Asked by: Gavin Williamson (Conservative - South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that the costs of charging electric vehicles in public places remain affordable.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has recently laid regulations to improve the consumer experience across the public charging network. The regulations will ensure that pricing information is transparent, payment methods are simplified, charge points are reliable and public charge point data is freely available for consumers.
Through these regulations, the Government will ensure that drivers can get value for money by comparing prices across different public charge points through a single format of pence per kilowatt hour, similar to pence per litre of fuel.
Overall, in many cases electric vehicle drivers can benefit from savings on the cost of fuel compared to conventional combustion engines.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of his Department's progress on increasing the number of electric vehicle charging points across Bristol North West constituency.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is supporting local authorities in England through its £381 million Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has been allocated £6,644,000 of capital funding and £688,000 of capability funding through the LEVI Fund, to transform the availability of local charging infrastructure across the area, including Bristol North West. Capital funding covers the costs associated with the installation of EV chargepoints and resource funding will secure dedicated in-house expertise to support WECA to plan, procure and tender the delivery of local chargepoints. In addition, Bristol City Council has previously been awarded £284,000 for the installation of 155 public chargepoints through the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) tax incentives and (b) rebates to wholesale sector distributors to help increase (i) investment in renewable energy projects and (ii) recharging and refueling infrastructure.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A wholesale distributor incurring qualifying expenditure on plant or machinery could be eligible for full expensing, a 100% first-year allowance available for expenditure incurred before 1 April 2026. Investments in renewable energy projects and recharging and refuelling infrastructure could be eligible for full expensing, depending on the nature of the expenditure. There is a factsheet about full expensing available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-expensing/spring-budget-2023-full-expensing.
In addition, there are targeted 100% first-year allowances for qualifying expenditure on plant or machinery for electric vehicle charging points and gas refuelling stations, which could be claimed if full expensing was not available. These first-year allowances are available until April 2025.
More broadly, the UK has been a global front-runner in supporting provision of charging infrastructure along with private sector investment.
The Government have spent over £2 billion to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. This funding has focused on reducing barriers to the adoption of such vehicles, including accelerating the rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.
The UK is also a world leader in the decarbonisation of the electricity system, having reduced emissions by 70% since 2010. The Government is supporting renewables deployment through a range of policy levers, including the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Since launching the scheme in 2014, contracts totalling over 30GW of new renewable capacity have been awarded, including around 20GW of offshore wind.