EV: Wales' describes new electric vehicle charging strategy as embarrassing.

01 Apr 2023

Progress towards getting more electric vehicles on the road in Wales has been described as "embarrassing". A cross-party Senedd committee looked at the Welsh government's plan to develop a network of charging points. The chairman of the committee, Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd, said its strategy had been beset by "broken promises and inadequate progress". The Welsh government said Wales had seen the biggest growth in charger and rapid charger provision across the UK.Fewer than half of the Welsh government's main commitments had been delivered on time, while work on some of the others had only just begun, many months after the deadline, a report by the Senedd's Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee found.It said the lack of progress calls into question the Welsh government's ability to deliver, especially in rural areas where the lack of electricity grid capacity is a significant issue.Its action plan includes setting up a "connections group" to co-ordinate the development of infrastructure, yet the group has never been established.Another proposed group, which would have brought together community organisations to determine the best locations for charging points across the country, was also never created.Gwenllian Owen from Lilangeni, on Anglesey, took delivery of a new all electric vehicle two weeks ago and got rid of her petrol car."I think may main worry was: where will I get it charged? How much is it going to cost me to charge it? Especially now the cost of electricity and everything is so high," she said."It's working out quite well. I'm probably spending around £50 a month to charge it, while my previous car, to fill it up every week-and-a-half to two weeks, that would cost me about £75 to £80 to do that."Asked about the availability of charging points, she said: "There's no doubt about that - there's a need."It is happening, but it's happening at a slower rate, so there needs to be a lot more investment from the government to ensure that the facilities are there for people when they are travelling."From north to south Wales, that's a journey I do in a motorhome, but I would really need to plan ahead if I drove down in my electric car because there would be a few stops on the way where I'd need to recharge."So yes, it's a lot of preparation, but it's part of the excitement, isn't it?"I'm pleased with it. It's quiet, it's clean and I feel I'm doing my bit for the environment."