All New Homes in England to have EV Chargers Installed

Fresh from hosting the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the UK government has not been slow to try boost its green credentials. It has announced that it will bring forward new regulations that will require any new homes or buildings in England to have a charge point for electric vehicles built in from next year. It will also require large-scale renovations of buildings with more than ten parking spaces to install chargers. In addition, the government will also fund a new hydrogen project in Scotland in a £10 million investment.

The initiative is expected to see the installation of up to 145,000 extra charge points each year. The UK has mandated that the sale of diesel and petrol vehicles will be banned from 2030, and the new regulations are intended to ensure that the country’s infrastructure can meet the demand from the rapid increase in electric vehicle sales. The charging points from the new initiative will be in addition to the 250,000 points already planned for the UK to make the charging of electric vehicles as easy as refilling a car today. To help adoption, the government also plans to help introduce easier methods of payment, including contactless payment at all new and fast charging points.

The Government also announced that Innovate UK will deliver a new three-year programme of £150m in new flexible and affordable Innovation Loans to help British SMEs commercialise R&D innovation. After running a successful pilot, the new programme will help businesses to grow, scale up and create new highly-skilled jobs. The programme is open to a variety of sectors, but the pilot has been largely benefiting green businesses.

Examples of those green businesses who have already benefited from the pilot programme include, Northern Ireland based Catagen Ltd’s catalytic converters that have assisted vehicle manufacturers to reduce emissions. NanoSUN Ltd, who develops and manufactures hydrogen refuelling products for customers in the oil and gas and transport sectors. NanoSUN’s loan helped the company triple the number of engineers they employ, as well as helping prototype and demonstrate its products.

The Government has also confirmed almost £10 million in funding for a new hydrogen project in the UK’s largest onshore windfarm near Glasgow. The £9.4 million investment will allow the Whitelee green hydrogen project to develop the UK’s largest electrolyser. The electrolyser is a system that will convert water into hydrogen gas as a way to store energy and supply local transport providers with zero-carbon fuel.

Developed by ITM Power and BOC, with ScottishPower, it has the potential to store and produce the equivalent of enough green hydrogen to fuel over 200 bus journeys travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh each day.