The rollout of public charge points for electric vehicles is gathering pace, but too few charge points are being installed outside of the South–East and London, according to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its Public charge points for electric vehicles report released today.
The report goes on to say around 73,000 charge points were installed in the UK at the start of 2025, which is on track to reach the 300,000 public charge points that the Department for Transport (the Department) estimates is the minimum needed by 2030. However, these charge points also need to be installed in the right places; 43% are in London and the South–East, with other regions and rural areas more poorly served.
It also states that the needs of drivers with disabilities have not been met in the rollout to date, and many charge points are inaccessible to them.
“The PAC report confirms what every EV driver knows. We need more chargers, faster roll out, cheaper electricity costs and cutting the VAT on public charging,” comments Quentin Willson, Founder FairCharge, EVUK advisory board member, “Creative solutions like Octopus’ Electroverse are making the consumer experience simpler and more effective by streamlining payment systems. The Government needs to work with industry and drivers to build what has become a critical national infrastructure imperative. Charge point operators have done well to deliver 75,000 chargers so far, but they need more help, support and determination from Westminster.”
Dr. Andy Palmer, Founder | CEO Palmer Energy, says, “The report in my opinion misses two vital points. One is the importance of home and work charging or better said, long dwell parking and its integration with public charging. The second is the adoption of technology such as commercial battery energy storage in conjunction with fast chargers to help regulate the cost of electricity per kWh; and this requires significant improvements in planning and grid connection planning approvals.
“Good progress is being made with public charging deployment, but geographic anomalies exist and the disparity of VAT between public and private charging is a major problem. There are two major inhibitors to adoption of EVs; the high purchase price and the cost of running them. The purchase price is addressed through scale and the presence of a prolific charging network allowing car batteries to be downsized. The cost of charging however must be a material difference to running an ICE – and this is achieved in part by equalising VAT between home and public charging.”
The PAC examines the value for money of Government projects, programmes and service delivery. Drawing on the work of the National Audit Office the Committee holds government officials to account for the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. The report is available here: 14th Report – Public charge points for electric vehicles..
