COVER STORY | ELECTRIC VEHICLES
TTOHE Z REOROAD
Targets demand that all new cars and vans
on the road will be zero emission by
2040. A new report has outlined
the challenges and realities of
transitioning the UK to
electric vehicles.
The advent of the
electric vehicle
has been one of
the most visible
aspects of the so-called
‘green revolution’. Indeed,
last year in the UK a
battery electric vehicle
was sold every 15 minutes.
However, this gure does
still not represent mass uptake
– far from it, in fact. That can only
come with the development of the
charging infrastructure to support
millions of electric vehicles across
the UK.
With the
publication of
The Road to Zero, the
Government launched
the Electric Vehicle
Energy Taskforce
to explore this
challenge with
The UK is committed to achieving
net zero greenhouse gas emissions
by 2050. Road transport is currently
a major source of these emissions.
It accounts for 29% of the UK’s
total energy consumption and is
responsible for 25% of the total
greenhouse gas emissions.
In July 2018, the Government
set out its strategy to deliver
cleaner road transport in
The Road to Zero. This set an
ambition that all new cars and
vans would be effectively zero
emission by 2040. The Road to
Zero recognised that the most
credible technology currently
available to deliver this strategy
is the plug-in electric vehicle (EV)
and that signi cant new charging
infrastructure will be needed to
support its adoption. A key challenge
is to ensure that the timely provision
of this infrastructure encourages the
transition to EVs. Range anxiety and
concerns about the accessibility of
public charging infrastructure are
frequently cited by consumers as a
key obstacle to acquiring an EV.
The Road to Zero strategy also
recognised that the electri cation of
road transport will have signi cant
impacts on the energy system,
potentially increasing today’s
electricity consumption by about
30% by 2050. This represents a
fundamental restructuring of the
energy supply infrastructure and
brings challenges that should
not be underestimated. The cost
of meeting this new demand will
be heavily in uenced by the way
consumers choose to charge their
EVs; increases in peak electricity
demand will have the greatest cost
impact but there is also real potential
for EV charging to provide bene ts
to the electricity system. It is vital that
the challenge of meeting this demand
growth is addressed with a strong
consumer perspective.
stakeholders
10 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | FEBRUARY 2020
/WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK