Government announces move to get 99% reliability for public EV chargers

Range anxiety has often been displaced by charger access anxiety for the UK’s growing number of EV owners and would-be owners. As well as the rapid increase in public chargers we can now see, the UK Government has acted to enforce greater reliability from the existing infrastructure.

New regulations have been announced mandating that all of the UK's public charge points must have a 99% average reliability record. Additionally, the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 must have clearer pricing information and easier payment systems in place.

New legislation and the introduction of an open data source will look to transform the mapping of public charge points. The net result is that it should be easier for EV owners to plan their journeys and remove range anxiety.

Under the new regulations, EV charge point operators need to show the devices on their networks have a reliability average of almost 100%. If they fail to deliver this, then operators could face fines from £10,000 to £250,000.

This latest move adds to an increase of 33% in the number of installed public device, since April 2022, with the number of rapid charging devices increasing by 39%.

In short, it's good news for anyone using an EV.

Chris Rowthorn, Director of Motor Sales Operations