Wales continues to lag behind rest of Britain for EV charging points
Commenting on the latest Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee report, Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister, Natasha Asghar MS said, “Despite their insistence on being a green government, this report highlights Labour’s continued abysmal record on electric vehicle charging provision.
“Wales still has the fewest public and rapid electric vehicle charging points per capita in the whole of Great Britain, another example of Labour quite literally slowing Wales down.”
She added, “The Electric Vehicle Association was right to point out the shortfalls in Labour’s strategy. It is clear that the rollout speed will not be sufficient to keep up with increasing demand for electric vehicles, stunting Wales’ green growth.
“The Labour Government needs to think more innovatively and work with the private sector to incentivise a faster rollout of EV charging points. There needs to be an immediate focus on expanding provision to rural areas of Wales where there are very few at present.
“If it was up to the Labour Government the people of Wales would still be travelling around in horses and carts.”
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. Rural Wales lacks national grid capacity to meet demand from motorists and communities.