Electric car drivers avoid Wales because of charging point shortage

There are not enough rapid electric car charging points in Wales, making it hard to travel from south to north Wales, an energy co-operative boss has said.

Neil Lewis, from TrydaNi, said only 60 of the 990 Welsh charging points are rapid ones – which can charge a car in less than an hour.

The Welsh Government said the number of charging points was increasing.

Wales is lagging behind much of the UK – it only has four more rapid charging points in the whole country than Milton Keynes, which has a population of about 265,000 people.

According to statistics released by the UK Department for Transport in December, there were no rapid charging points in Gwynedd, Conwy, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent or Torfaen.

The report also showed that while Scotland has 7.5 rapid charging points per 100,000 people, Wales only has 1.8 per 100,000.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced that a ban on fossil fuel cars would be brought forward to 2035, five years earlier than initially expected.

But Mr Lewis said the lack of investment in charging points in Wales was a problem that meant “it’s very hard to travel around Wales in an electric car”.

Mr Lewis, who has worked in the communal energy sector for nine years, said electric vehicle drivers often avoided mid Wales and chose to drive through England when travelling from south to north Wales as it was “safer”.

In 2020, the Welsh Government will release its Electric Vehicle Charging Strategy which will “consider different models that will expand our charging network”.

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