Government incentive adds electric car charging to service stations

ELECTRIC car charging points will be installed at all big filling stations in Britain under government plans to increase the use of green cars.

Operators of many of the UK’s 8,500 garages will have to provide charging facilities on forecourts, amid concerns that too many are hidden away on side streets, making them difficult to access.

The measures will also ensure that charging points are properly staffed around the clock — addressing the present situation in which as many as a third in some areas are out of order at any one time.

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Operators of motorway service stations that already offer at least one charging point will be expected to increase the number of efficient “rapid” chargers to make it easier to run electric cars on long journeys.

The reforms, published in the Vehicle Technology and Aviation bill, will also abolish the need for drivers to take out multiple electric car charging point subscriptions to use different devices.

Graeme Paton

This article first appeared in The Times