Chris Pateman-Jones, CEO of EV infrastructure specialist Connected Kerb, says that, as the value of long dwell on-street charging becomes more apparent, there will be more and more large scale, long tenure projects tendered and delivered by leading councils across the UK, attracting significant investment from large infrastructure investors.
"It wouldn’t be surprising to see projects involving tens of thousands of chargers," he adds.
Pateman-Jones says that EV ownership has come on leaps and bounds in 2022, and this will accelerate next year. "Growth will continue to be driven by salary sacrifice and fleet purchases, but as cheaper and cheaper cars become available in 2023, the market will shift from being policy-driven to consumer-led, moving from a passion purchase to a practical purchase – particularly for those with access to charging either at home or nearby reliable public charging," he says
Between October 2021 and October 2022, government dats shows that the total number of EV charge points in the UK increased by 34%.
Pateman-Jones says: "Accessibility of charging will also be front of mind – not just the increase in provision of chargers in non-urban areas or non-wealthy areas, but also the number of accessible bays. This will be underpinned by greater scrutiny of charging point accessibility following the release of Motability’s charging point accessibility standard in October this year."
In the context of the cost of living crisis, he adds that charging costs will be a hot topic. "There is a great deal of pressure on government from industry and drivers to reduce public changepoint VAT to 5% to bring it in line with home charging," says Pateman-Jones. "Another trend to watch will be the introduction of smart charging into public charge points, offering drivers time of use energy tariffs regardless of whether they charge at home or not."
