How Ofgem will support the rollout of electric vehicles across Britain

Ofgem has announced its electric vehicles (EVs) rollout strategy comprising of measures to support EV adoption across Britain.

Ofgem states that the rollout of 14 million electric vehicles across Britain by 2030 from just 500,000 in 2021, as predicted by the Committee on Climate Change’s Sixth Carbon Budget Balanced Pathway, must be beneficial to consumers and the environment.

To ensure the uptake of EVs is expedited, Ofgem will:

• Prepare the grid for an increase in the use of EVs by ensuring that there is adequate energy capacity and infrastructure to support the revolution to smart mobility. With £300 million ($414.9 million) in funding already approved by Ofgem for network upgrades to support EV infrastructure development in May 2021, the regulator plans to ensure more funding is available for grid modernisation.

• Simplify the integration of EV charging stations with the grid by reducing the costs associated with making the connections. This will help ensure more charging stations are installed and connected to the grid so that a greater number of people have access to charge points where they need them.

Have you read?
Shell targets 50,000 public EV charging posts in UK by 2025
Ofgem launches £450m Innovation Fund to drive net-zero transition

• Encourage smart charging to prevent EV charging from straining the grid. Ofgem will partner with utilities and technology firms to ensure EV owners charge during times when demand on the grid is low and tariffs are cheaper as well.

• Support vehicle-to-grid technology development and use to enable the use of EVs as mobile batteries that can be used to support the reliability of grid networks whilst providing EV owners with new revenue streams. Vehicle-to-grid will help reduce the amount of electricity generation needed at peak times and can reduce peak demand equivalent to the generation capacity of up to ten large nuclear power stations, according to the National Grid ESO’s Future Energy Scenarios 2021 (FES) publication. Ofgem states that the business case has the potential to reduce consumer bills as well, even those without EVs.

• Ofgem will work with energy suppliers and innovators to make sure there are a range of products, services and tariffs for UK energy consumers to take advantage of to make the switch to EVs simpler and faster.

Neil Kenward, Ofgem’s director of strategy and decarbonisation, said: “Electric vehicles will revolutionise the way we use energy and provide consumers with new opportunities, through smart products, to engage in the energy market to keep their costs as low as possible.

“Our electric vehicle priorities not only provide a way to meet our climate change targets but importantly offers ways to protect consumers from rising bills, through a three-prong approach of increased use of electric vehicles, smart charging and vehicle-to-grid technology, which together can help drive down costs for all GB bill payers.”