Why our charging network just isn’t ready for the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, writes Moto Services CEO KEN MCMEIKAN

Why our charging network just isn’t ready for the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, writes Moto Services CEO KEN MCMEIKAN By Ken Mcmeikan Updated: 01:08 BST, 2 August 2023 e-mail View comments At our Pease Pottage services on the M23, almost £1million has been spent installing 16 new ultra-rapid Tesla chargers. This was a huge project with a frantic schedule as we aimed to get all the work complete before the summer rush. And we did it.

We hit every deadline. But the chargers aren’t activated and they will be out of action throughout the summer, until at least September 9. .

. because they have no power. The electrical supply from the grid simply isn’t there yet.

While our energy provider at Pease Pottage is working hard with us to resolve our power supply issues, there is a mountain of local authority red tape in the way. It is the same story, time and time again, at sites up and down the country. Drivers are pulling up every day, expecting to recharge their electric vehicles [EVs], and reacting with frustration and despair when they realise the chargers have no power.

That scene could be enacted on an ever greater scale as 2030 approaches and, with it, the Government ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. Everyone’s talking about the lack of public chargers : current estimates suggest there will be 14 million EVs on the roads in seven years, and yet by May this year Britain had only 42,566 charging points for public use. But there’s a much bigger problem, as Pease Pottage has proved.

Chargers need electricity – a colossal amount of it. And the National Grid is nowhere near ready. At the Pease Pottage services on the M23, almost £1million has been spent installing 16 new ultra-rapid Tesla chargers Moto boss Ken McMeikan said there was a ‘major, major problem’ getting enough power for electric chargers amid concerns about the 2030 ban on new diesel and petrol sales At Moto’s Exeter services, we aim to have 56 ultra-rapid chargers by the autumn.

When all these are in use, they will draw upon eight megawatts of power – approximately one-third of the amount needed to keep Exeter city itself running. Put that another way: installing 56 ultra-rapid chargers at three motorway services is like adding an entire city to the National Grid. By my calculation, to meet our customer’s needs in 2030, Moto will require 25 per cent of the power generated by an entire nuclear power station.

Whitehall seems oblivious to this onrushing crisis. I’ve spoken to the Minister of State for Decarbonisation and Technology, Jesse Norman, to hammer the message across: power is at the heart of the problem. If we can’t power the chargers, people will not be able to switch effectively to EVs.

My fear is that the Government will be slow to act, which will lead to bigger and more frequent queues at charging stations. Already, I’ve had to tackle queues at our busiest sites head-on, with marshals to police lines of motorists and direct them to chargers. And that’s the situation when we have only one in 32 cars requiring power now, as opposed to a projected one in three by 2030.

Current estimates suggest there will be 14 million EVs on the roads in seven years, and yet by May this year Britain had only 42,566 charging points for public use Drivers are pulling up every day, expecting to recharge their electric vehicles [EVs], and reacting with frustration and despair when they realise the chargers have no power In these situations, drivers will be desperate to plug in for as long as possible, to get the maximum charge in one go. That will slow down the queues even more. Already, our colleagues report that at seasonal peak times, when EV drivers are facing queues for chargers, tempers fray.

An ultra-rapid charger can deliver about 100 miles of driving from just a ten-minute charge. But many EVs charge much more slowly and may need to be connected for up to an hour. The older public chargers at some motorway services provide only 50 kilowatts, and it typically takes 60 minutes on one of these to add 100 miles of driving range.

For many people, motorway driving is tiring and stressful. Our services exist to alleviate that stress. But if we can’t get enough power to our chargers, the psychological pressure on motorists will be intense.

A full battery has less range than a full tank of petrol or diesel. It’s inevitable that refuelling EVs will take longer, as well as being necessary more often. As we’re the largest network of service stations in the UK, that should be good news for Moto – looking after more customers, more often, staying longer.

But if we can’t get the electricity to provide sufficient numbers of chargers, the switch to EVs will see motorway mayhem of proportions not seen previously. The Government must act now and use its power to provide electric vehicles with theirs. Share or comment on this article: Why our charging network just isn’t ready for the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, writes Moto Services CEO KEN MCMEIKAN e-mail Add comment Comments 0 Share what you think No comments have so far been submitted.

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