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NET ZERO By Dan Clough
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The government has launched a consultation aimed at shaping the pathway to ending sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and ensuring all new cars and vans are zero emission by 2035.
Vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, charge point operators and dealers are being asked for their views as part of the review of the government’s zero emission vehicle mandate.
Announcing the consultation, transport secretary Heidi Alexander says: “The UK EV market is strong – sales are up, British manufacturers and charge point operators are investing billions, alongside our backing of £7.5 billion, including our Electric Car Grant that has helped over 160,000 people make the switch.
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“It is right we keep targets under review to ensure they are practical and back British industry. The end goal hasn’t changed – but we need to take business with us on the journey and that’s exactly what we’re doing today by making sure industry has the chance to shape how we get there.”
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But how are Lancashire businesses dealing with the push towards electrification? And is the infrastructure genuinely ready to support businesses in the largest automotive change since the invention of motor vehicles?
Ilyas Munshi, corporate development and communications director at Blackburn headquartered petrol forecourt operator EG on the Move, thinks there is still a way to go.
“Fuel is still going to be there, whatever government says, by 2030,” he says. “I think we will transition slowly off carbon fuels rather
than this jump off the cliff in 2030. It is nice having that headline, but the reality is we are not ready for full electric yet.
“For the smaller cars, I think we will get there. But to just have this simplistic view that in 2030 everything is going to switch off was a wishful aspiration. The reality is completely different on the ground.
“Something radical needs to happen infrastructure wise for us to be able to say we can switch off traditional fuel.”
Despite his scepticism, the company has launched EV on the Move, a network of charging points across its nationwide portfolio in partnership with electric car giant Tesla.
The big challenge with modifying traditional forecourts for EV charging, Ilyas explains, is establishing the connection to the grid.
“You need a big pipe for electric to come into your site to be able to not only support the site operations, but the charging as well,” he says. “That grid connection is the most challenging and most expensive.
“Sometimes, if you’re a remote site, just doing the grid connection could be millions of pounds.
“Not every site is going to be suitable because of the cost or the barrier of implementing the grid connection.”
Away from personal vehicles, more and more businesses are now looking to go electric.
It’s having a massive economic benefit as well.
It is creating a vast amount of jobs and you can’t really underestimate how big that is either
And the firm is looking at alternative locations to the traditional petrol forecourt and service station model as it looks to put charging stations in locations that offer the most convenience to drivers.
Ilyas says: “We are taking the charging solution to other locations.
“We will still have our sites, but we build our network in terms of charging locations and have charge points in different types of locations where there is good dwell time, like restaurants.”
Michael Gibson set up the electric vehicle charge point management platform Fuuse in Lancaster a decade ago and has just handed the reins to new chief executive Roger Hunter. He has overseen huge growth in those 10 years, due to the number of organisations looking to make the switch to electric vehicles.
He says: “The reality is we have thousands of customers who have fleets who are not only beginning that journey, but are well into that journey. We do lots of vans, bus charging and even HGVs now as well.
LANCASHIRE CHARGES TOWARDS ELECTRIFICATION
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