By Stefan Gabrielsson, Ctek business owner

The UK government’s review of the cost of public electric vehicle charging will report in the autumn. If they can’t have a home charger, EV drivers – and petrol and diesel drivers thinking of switching to electric – face rising costs when public charging, with prices up 38% since 2021.

The review will include what the Government and industry can do to bring prices down, which could include regulation, public funding, wider policy levers, market-based trading schemes and dynamic pricing.

Specifically excluded from the review is cutting VAT on the electricity supplied at public chargers. VAT is currently added at the standard rate 20%, compared to just five per cent on domestic electricity use. And the Government is appealing against a tax tribunal ruling in March that found that the rate should have been 5% all along.

Freshly widening the divide between the cost of home and public charging is the Government’s new intention to cut VAT from domestic electricity bills entirely from October.

EV drivers body EVA England’s research has shown 75% of drivers view public charging costs as the biggest hurdle to driving electric. The Government review is very welcome but it must recommend significant, concrete steps that can and should be implemented to make public charging cheaper.

Here are our suggestions:

• Mandate that all public charge point operators (CPOs) must offer dynamic pricing, with off-peak tariffs for overnight charging
• Reduce additional fees paid by CPOs when supplying electricity, such as standing charges and policy levies, and ensure the reduced costs are passed on through the kWh price drivers pay
• A government-discounted universal charging and payment app reserved for EV drivers who are certified as not having access to a home charger – but likely to be challenging to implement
• Prioritise the installation of three-phase AC public charging which can deliver cheaper energy at up to 22kW, charging three times as fast as the 7kW AC typically experienced today
• Target government-funded tiered price discounts at drivers who charge the most at public chargers
• Subsidise public charging subscription services
• Extend elements of the DC chargers uptime rules to AC chargers, incentivising maintenance, servicing and repair/replacement to enable more EV drivers to charge with cheaper AC
• Encourage more price competition between CPOs by giving drivers choice at key locations such as motorway and trunk road service areas
• End the fuel duty freeze on polluting, climate warming petrol and diesel and use the revenue to subsidise cheaper public charging

The Government must pull all the levers available to bring down the cost of public charging so that driving an EV powered at public chargers is significantly cheaper per mile than fossil fuels. If it is both green and cheap to go electric, the UK can stay in the fast lane of EV adoption.