Electric car charging points in every new home?

Under new EU proposals, potentially every new or refurbished house in Europe must be equipped with an electric vehicle charging point from 2019.

This draft EU directive follows the recent proposals by Norway, Holland and Germany that by 2025 (2030 for Germany) newly-produced cars must be emissions-free to be approved for use on their roads which, if passed, will effectively phase-out cars powered by internal combustion engines from Norwegian, Dutch and German roads.

Indeed Norway is already progressing far down the electric highway; tax laws favouring electric cars mean that about 24% of cars in Norway already run on electricity.

The new EU proposal would therefore complement the Dutch and German plans by ensuring the infrastructure is in place to make electric car ownership an increasingly viable choice for consumers.

Although the EU directive (if passed) might not apply to a post-Brexit Britain, we urge the Government to consider implementing a similar scheme, ideally coupled with solar panels and home battery storage.

The Government’s announcement last week of a £35 million investment in low emission vehicles and charging points (including a £7.5 million workplace scheme to support charging infrastructure for employee and fleet use and £2.5 million being made available to councils to support charge points on streets near homes without private-off street parking) is welcome.  However, we think additional promotion and investment in household infrastructure, such as the EU proposal, will ensure Britain is at the forefront of the electric revolution and provide reassurance to the renewable industry that the much-vaunted “Green Agenda” has not been forgotten in the wake of recent renewable energy subsidy cuts and the Hinkley Point nuclear power station deal.