Risk of ‘serious injustice’ in EV chargepoint rollout, MPs warns

The needs of disabled drivers are being ignored in the rollout of electric vehicle charging points, a group of MPs said, as its chairman warned the Government against “baking a serious injustice” into the system.

The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also expressed concerns of regional divides in the introduction of the stations, with 43% installed in London and the South East, and just 15% in England’s rural areas.

In a report published on Wednesday, the influential group of MPs called on the Department for Transport (DfT) to set out how it assesses regional needs and what action is being taken to ensure accessibility.

The Government has pledged to bring the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans forward from 2035 to 2030 as part of its net-zero drive.

The committee said many chargepoints are inaccessible for disabled drivers, for example by being placed on kerbs or with obstructions which pose difficulties for wheelchair users.

In 2022, the department sponsored the creation of a standard with the Motability Foundation charity to set minimum standards for chargepoint accessibility, but has not mandated its use, the committee said.

Nearly two years on from its launch, there are still no chargepoints in the UK which are fully compliant with the standard, according to the foundation.

Meanwhile, patchy availability for electric vehicle (EV) charging “plagues” large swathes of UK motorways and the Government had been slow to address gaps in provision, the MPs warned.

The Government is on track to deliver the minimum 300,000 chargepoints by 2030, but so far those installed have not been evenly spread, with too few outside London and the South East, the committee said.

The DfT has said the proportion of public chargepoints in rural areas broadly aligns with their population, and in general 86% of houses in these areas have off–street parking, compared to 45% for urban ones.

It added that its £450 million local EV charging scheme should help address the uneven spread of stations across the country, though the committee warned there had been delays to the programme.

Only 10 out of 78 projects had been approved for delivery as part of the scheme last October against a March 2025 deadline, meaning many local authorities could be procuring at similar times, posing the risk of the market lacking the capacity to serve them all, it said.

In 2020, the Government also announced £950 million to future-proof electricity capacity on strategic roads, but DfT has yet to issue any of this funding, the committee said.

The report adds that drivers with no option but to rely on public charge points, in particular those without access to off-street parking, pay significantly more due to higher VAT rates charged – typically 20%, compared to 5%.

It comes after the public spending watchdog urged ministers to put “greater focus” on ensuring more electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints are installed in rural locations and regions outside the South East.

The National Audit Office (NAO), the work of which is drawn on by PAC, said there was “more to do to ensure adequate coverage in all parts of the country” with only around 15% of chargepoints in England in rural areas

PAC chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown warned of a risk of “baking a serious injustice into the fabric of a major part of our national infrastructure” as the needs of disabled drivers “are being ignored”.

He said: “It is welcome to see the EV charging rollout beginning to ramp up, with all the implicit benefits that bearing down on emissions will bring.

“But this rollout is not currently taking place equally across the nation. Meeting numerical targets for charging points is all very well. Delivering thousands of points allowing Londoners to easily zip around the capital while leaving the rest of the UK’s network patchy is obviously an outcome to be avoided.

“It is also of deep concern that the needs of disabled drivers are being ignored. Not a single chargepoint in the country is currently fully accessible.

“We are risking baking a serious injustice into the fabric of a major part of our national infrastructure. Government similarly needs to understand how to remedy financial inequalities for those who have no choice but to use public chargepoints.

“Our report therefore challenges the Government – it must move at pace to overcome current delays and encourage take-up, while taking the time to ensure no-one gets left behind in this all-important shift to the future.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “We’re rolling out our chargepoint network at lightning pace and there are now more than 74,000 public chargers in place across the UK – with a new one added to the network every 28 minutes.

“We’ve seen a 53% boost in the number of chargers within a mile of the strategic road network and a 45% rise in chargepoints across rural areas in 2024, helping ensure drivers are always close to a socket, no matter where they are.

“We’re backing the sector by investing over £2.3 billion to help industry and consumers make a supported switch to EVs, creating high-paid jobs, tapping into a multi-billion-pound industry and making the UK a clean energy superpower to deliver our Plan for Change.”

The spokesperson added: “The Government is dedicated to ensuring all electric vehicle drivers, including those with disabilities, can easily access public chargepoints that meet their needs. We are continuing to work with industry to increase adoption of standards for accessible EV charging infrastructure.”