New builds must have electric charging stations from next year

All new build housing must be fitted with electric vehicle charging ports from 2022, the government has announced.

Buildings making “major renovations” will also be forced to install the ports, used to top up the batteries of electric vehicles.

The government has pledged that it wants to end the sale of traditional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The force driving that change won’t be government, it won’t even be business…it will be the consumer.”

“It will be the young people of today, who can see the consequences of climate change and will be demanding better from us.”

The UK currently has around 25,000 charging points, though there’s a need to bolster this by 10 times by 2030 according to the Competition and Markets Authority.

Eleanor Bateman, policy officer at Propertymark, backed the announcement but would like to see more action taken to boost the availability of charging ports in existing homes.

She said: “The UK government’s announcement that all new buildings will require electric vehicle charging points from 2022 is welcome news, particularly since parts of England are lacking critical charging infrastructure.

“With the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles prohibited from 2030, and at-home charging the most economic option, there has been a need for intervention to facilitate the uptake of electric vehicles to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

“However, new builds make up just a fraction of total housing stock. The UK government must therefore make funding available for retrofitting existing homes, as well as continue to invest in low-carbon public transport to ensure that no areas are left behind.

“Propertymark member agents are increasingly seeing buyers and renters citing electric vehicle charging points as a ‘must have’, therefore it is positive to see that the UK government is taking steps to address this, putting cost-effective measures in place will remove what is a significant barrier to electric vehicle ownership.”

At the COP 26 summit two weeks ago carmakers were asked to sign a pledge to only sell zero-emissions cars and vans by 2035.

Ford, General Motors, and Jaguar Land Rover signed, but Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault-Nissan and Hyundai-Kia didn’t.

Written By

Helen Brookes

Marketing Manager

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