The government’s moves towards changing Britain from a nation running on petrol and diesel cars to one using electric vehicles have been steadily gathering pace, but progress has been geographically uneven when it comes to fitting EV chargers.
Since such infrastructure is vital, there is clearly an opportunity for any electrician who takes an EV charging course to help provide some solutions in parts of Britain where progress is slow, such as Wales.
The Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee has criticised the level of progress achieved by the government in Cardiff so far in a new report, which highlighted the fact that under half of the key commitments made have been completed on time and some of them have only just got underway.
Committee chair Llyr Gruffydd labelled bemoaned the “broken promises and inadequate progress” to date, with a particular concern being the lack of charging infrastructure in the rural areas that make up the majority of Wales, where the shortage of local grid capacity is a significant issue.
Among the other shortcomings highlighted in the report was the fact that a ‘connections group’ that was supposed to be established to co-ordinate infrastructure development has not been set up.
Speaking to the BBC, Gwenllian Owen from Llangefni, on Anglesey, highlighted the need for more charging points after she recently bought an electric car.
She said: “It is happening, but it’s happening at a slower rate, so there needs to be a lot more investment from the government to ensure that the facilities are there.”
Ms Owen added that if she would “really need to plan ahead” if she were to drive from north to south Wales in a motor home, a familiar journey she has often undertaken in a diesel vehicle.
Figures supplied to the committee by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, based on 2022 ZapMap data, revealed that of the 37,000 EV charging points installed in Britain, only 2,400 are in Wales. That means there is one plug-in charger per 15,000 people in Wales, compared with one for every 11,000 across the UK as a whole.