Only a THIRD of the municipalities have taken funds to install electric car chargers on the street

Barely a third of local councils have accessed a key government fund to build electric car chargers on the street, six years after it was launched, an analysis reveals.

The Mail audit is a fresh blow to ministers’ plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 as part of the push to get motorists to go electric. The Daily Mail is campaigning for ministers to reconsider plans for 2030.

It found that only 115 councils out of 320 across the UK have agreed to the flagship On-Street Residential Charging Point Scheme (ORCS).

Launched by the Government in 2017, it provides grants to local authorities to cover the cost of installing public charging points.

In another blow, the audit found that the number installed by local authorities has dropped dramatically.

Installations peaked in 2021, when municipalities created more than four street chargers per day (1,513 in total).

But this plummeted by more than 40 percent to 846 last year, or just over two a day on average.

And this year only 28 were installed between January 1 and April 30, one every five days.

To meet the 2030 goal of creating 125,000 residential street chargers, about 47 need to be built per day on average between now and the end of the decade.

The failure of local councils to play a bigger role in the planned EV revolution has fueled a widening chasm between the number of plug-in cars on the road and public charging points. Up to 36 drivers are currently fighting over each charging point.

Councils are also more likely to install chargers in remote areas where it is not financially viable for private companies to do so, ensuring all motorists can comfortably use electricity.

Today’s findings prompted fresh calls for ministers to reconsider the 2030 target, designed to boost efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay (pictured) said: “This is where the hyperbole of Net Zero meets the reality of the road, and it just doesn’t work.”

Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay said: “This is where the hyperbole of Net Zero meets the reality of the road, and it just doesn’t work.”

“It is becoming increasingly evident that the charging network is not being implemented at the rate that is required.

“By 2028, common sense will probably prevail and realize that we are not ready to ban petrol and diesel, and in the meantime we will lose what is left of our successful British car industry.”

“There is also insufficient electricity generation and the public has not realized the limitations or additional costs of electric vehicles. It is much better that reality prevail now and we kick this plan into the tall grass.

“I rarely agree with the EU, but its proposed 2035 ban leaves the UK uniquely exposed between 2030 and 2035.”

The audit found that councils in the East Midlands have accessed the ORCS fund more than any other area. 21 did, followed by 19 in the South East and 16 in London. By comparison, only two made it in the Northeast.

It comes after an exclusive poll by this newspaper today found that barely a quarter of the public agrees with the government’s 2030 deadline.

The survey, conducted by Survation, found that just 28 percent of the public think banning new gasoline and diesel vehicle sales by 2030 is a good idea, compared with 53 percent who think it’s a bad one. idea.

And just 29 percent said they would feel confident buying an electric car to use as their only vehicle based on current infrastructure. By contrast, 39 percent would not be sure.

Just 21 percent are confident Britain will have the necessary infrastructure to support ready electric cars in time for 2030, while 50 percent feel unsure.

Publicly available chargers are crucial to comfortably reaching the government’s 2030 target because an estimated 40 percent of households do not have access to off-street parking, such as a private driveway.

This means that they cannot install their own hotspot at home and rely on publicly available ones.

Initially, the government planned to phase out new gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2040, but this date was moved forward by five years in February 2019 and another five years in November 2020.

It is believed that many councils do not have the experience to install chargers. But they are also delayed by the planning system and problems with connecting devices to the electrical grid, with thousands of devices in the works.

According to expert estimates, the grid will need to be upgraded to the tune of £25-30bn by the end of the decade to cope with the additional demand for electricity.

The private sector is also installing publicly available hotspots at a much faster rate.

There were 40,150 points across the UK at the beginning of April, when council-installed and private ones are counted together. It means that those installed by the council represent just over 10 percent of all devices.

The government wants at least 300,000 public chargers of all types across the UK by 2030. To reach this target, around 110 per day need to be created on average between now and the end of the decade by the public and private sector. .

But currently only about 34 are installed on average daily.

AA President Edmund King said: ‘One thing we have said is that more support should be given to councils that do not have internal expertise. That is delaying things. We have to pick up the pace.

“There will be some charging deserts where local authorities and the government will have to use infrastructure grants, so it is crucial that local authorities pick up the pace.”

Initially, the government planned to phase out new gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2040, but this date was moved forward by five years in February 2019 and another five years in November 2020.

All local authorities, including parish councils, can access the ORCS fund. Grants are capped at £200,000. This is enough to build around 50 charging points.

The Department of Transportation has been contacted for comment.