The top 5 things you need to know about the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales
At Nathaniel Cars, we like to keep on top of the latest electric vehicle (EV) updates. After we reported on the fact that over half of younger drivers are likely to switch to an electric car in the next 10 years, we noticed some EV news specific to Wales.
In October 2021, the Welsh government launched the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales. With a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2030, this initiative will help to encourage more people to buy an electric car.
Here are the top 5 things you need to know about the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales.
1. The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales expands on the Welsh Government’s transport strategy
The Welsh Government’s new transport strategy, Llwybr Newydd – New Path, outlined their plans for the future of transport in Wales. This included increasing the use of public transport and encouraging more walking and cycling.
It also highlighted the need to phase out petrol and diesel cars in favour of electric vehicles. An important part of this process is making sure that there are enough charging points across Wales.
The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales expands on this transport strategy and aims to increase the number of charging points available to EV drivers across Wales.
2. The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales asked experts and EV drivers what they wanted
The Welsh Government worked with Arup, a global design and business consulting firm, to create the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales.
Arup’s team of decarbonisation advisors, data scientists, transport planners, environmental consultants, user experience specialists and economists worked together on the strategy. They also spoke in focus groups with existing and potential users of EVs in Wales.
The vision of the Action Plan is: By 2025, all users of electric cars and vans in Wales should be confident that they can access electric vehicle charging infrastructure when and where they need it.
3. The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales is bringing more charging points to Wales
As part of the plan, the Welsh Government is proposing to invest approximately £30m in electric vehicle charging over the next five years.
You can read more about charging an EV in our blog, Making EV Easy: How to charge an electric car.
Currently, Wales has 1,000 public charging points. The Welsh Government wants to increase this by installing charging points every 20 miles on important transport networks across Wales by 2025.
These will include the:
- A55, which stretches across north Wales
- A470, Wales’ longest road, which links Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast
- parts of the A5 in Wales, which runs from England into Wales and ends at Holyhead
4. The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales aims to encourage more people to buy electric cars
The introduction of these new charging points means that there will be one public charge point for every 7 to 11 electric vehicles on the road by 2025. However, it’s expected that the actual number of battery-powered cars will rise significantly over the next four years. As this number increases, there is likely to be around 25 vehicles per charge point.
The Welsh Government’s existing ‘Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) Transformation Fund’ will also help to kick-start other EV projects across Wales and encourage the sale of electric cars.
Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change and responsible for transport, said, “We need to do more in the next ten years than we’ve done in the last thirty if we’re to reach our NetZero target by 2050. Changing the car dependency culture that has been created in the past and encouraging more people to use public transport will be key, but for those essential car journeys, making the switch to an electric vehicle is another way we can make a difference.”
5. The EV Charging Action Plan for Wales is already making an impact
You can already see the impact of the action plan in Wales.
The Welsh Government awarded Carmarthenshire Council a £350,000 grant to develop a rapid charging facility on the A48 in Cross Hands.
This will include five fast chargers from 50kW to 150kW under a solar canopy, with further expansion possible. You can expect to see it in 2022.
Find out more about the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales
You can read more about Arup’s involvement in the EV Charging Action Plan for Wales on the Arup website.
To see the plan in more detail, download the Electric vehicle charging strategy for Wales: action plan (PDF 4MB).
If you’d like to join the electric car revolution, the EV experts at Nathaniel Cars are here to help.
You can ask us a question by filling in the “Ask our EV Experts” form. Or come and see our fantastic range of electric vehicles for yourself at our Cardiff and Bridgend showrooms.
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