8 July 2025
Over the last few weeks we have seen some meaty Government reports and announcements in the UK EV policy landscape: £1.8bn for electric vehicles in the Government’s Spending Review; a Modern Industrial Strategy that is heavy on bringing down electricity costs; and the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) report to Parliament on the UK’s progress in meeting its net zero commitments.
But what does all this mean for those of us who drive, or want to drive, electric?
EVA England’s driver surveys have consistently highlighted that the upfront costs of buying an electric vehicle, and the current high costs of public charging are two key issues affecting both existing EV drivers and those looking to make the switch. Do these reports help tackle those two issues?
When it comes to tackling road transport, it makes clear that the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate (which sets targets for manufacturers to sell a certain number of EVs in the UK market each year) is doing its job: pushing manufacturers to provide a better consumer offer on electric vehicles, accelerating their uptake and driving reductions in road transport emissions (down 16% from 2008, when the Climate Change Act came into force).
Indeed, last week’s new car sales figures from New Automotive and SMMT show that consumers are genuinely starting to choose electric, with one in four sales in June being full battery EV.
The CCC also highlights a 40% growth in public charging infrastructure in the past year, supporting the transition. But its key recommendation to Government to make sure progress continues is to take steps to make electricity cheaper for consumers – and for us electric drivers, those steps also need to bring down the cost of public charging.
It includes commitments to reduce energy costs for industrial sectors like automotive; announcements of new initiatives that aim to speed up the process for getting electricity connections in the ground; and re-iteration of the role that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will play in reducing red tape for key EV developments such as gigafactories. All of this should reduce costs in the EV sector.
But whether those cost savings will then funnel down to the point where drivers pay for their charging remains to be seen. And then we have Ofgem (the energy regulator)’s subsequent announcement that a new price cap means household energy bills should reduce by 7%, followed quickly by another announcement that a much needed £25bn of investment in energy infrastructure upgrades – to allow us all to take advantage of cheaper renewable infrastructure in the future – may mean a temporary rise in energy bills.
This is confusing for us as consumers. It is clear the ultimate goal is to bring down the prices that we pay, but it will clearly take time.
And as EVA England, we need to keep raising awareness of the impact of these decisions on public charging costs and public acceptance of electric vehicles – as well as the opportunity for cheaper charging that they should ultimately bring – and of the need for shorter term measures to help bring those costs down.
The Spending Review committed £1.8bn over the next four years, with £1.4bn to support electric vehicle uptake – including trucks – and £400m for charging infrastructure. That is a lot of money. Speculation has focussed largely on whether the £400m is actually a reduction in what we previously had for charging infrastructure. However, Government financing is complex, and public speculation like this doesn’t help in giving drivers confidence in the electric car market.
What we really need to know (and soon) is how that £1.8bn will be spent, and whether it will be spent in areas where more support is genuinely needed to help a greater number of drivers access electric vehicles.
With electric car prices still being over 20% more expensive than their petrol or diesel equivalents, our hope is that a decent chunk of the £1.4bn for vehicles will go on supporting access to lower cost EVs, particularly for those households on lower incomes – be that through schemes that stabilise and reduce prices on the used EV market or schemes that further bring down prices of new EVs.
At EVA England, we’ve spoken before about the fact that, when the price is right, drivers will choose these vehicles, and there is real potential for social leasing or low-cost loans schemes in the UK to help more customers make the switch.
As for charging infrastructure, the real challenge is how to help those without a driveway access affordable charging, and how to ensure there are sufficient grid connections to allow those in rural areas to charge their cars. The Government’s existing (£450m) Local EV Infrastructure fund should go a long way to help tackle those challenges but it is only just starting to roll out and we have yet to see the benefits on the ground. Keeping up the pace on that roll out, checking in with driver’s experiences in accessing charging across their local areas, and making sure the additional £400m is then targeted to plug the remaining barriers or locations where drivers still face real challenges charging at affordable prices, will be critical.
The opportunity and appetite to win more drivers over to electric is there: more and more are choosing to buy electric. But let’s not get complacent – there are still some real barriers to accessing EVs and their infrastructure at affordable prices despite ongoing changes in UK EV policies.
And at EVA England, we’ll continue to campaign to raise awareness of what steps we think need to be taken across industry and Government to address those.
This blog post was originally released as an early-access feature for EVA England members, to give them a deeper look into current issues shaping EV policy.
To gain early access to insights like this, you can support EVA England by becoming a member today.