Transport Minister Rachel Maclean has vowed to break the monopoly that Ecotricity has on providing electric car charging at motorway service stations, with new chargers arriving before 2023.
Speaking to website electrifying.com Ms Maclean said she will use legislation to ensure charge points are reliable and useable by anyone with a contactless card.
Ecotricity has faced criticism for its charging points which are reportedly unreliable and outdated. It’s hard enough for EV drivers to find a good charging point but if, when they do find one, it’s not working properly it can stymie their entire journey.
The plan now is to have a minimum of six chargers at each motorway service station.
The interview, with Electrifying.com’s founder Ginny Buckley, saw Maclean answering readers’ questions on everything from disabled access to charging points and more.
Maclean is quoted as saying: “We do believe it will take government investment to ‘charge up’ this market. So we’ve got nearly £1 billion to upgrade those connections at motorway service stations. What we are going to have is at least six high power chargers in every motorway service area by 2023.”
She said the charge points would be 150kW or above so charging only takes the same time as getting a coffee.