The government of the United Kingdom announced this week that new homes and buildings in England will be required by law to install charging points for electric vehicles as of next year.
Along with new homes and buildings, the law also stipulates that supermarkets, workplaces, and buildings undergoing major renovations will also have to add EV charging points, reports the BBC.
The government anticipates that the law will see up to 145,000 charging points being installed per year. That will mean a huge boost in the number of chargers, as estimates suggest that Britain currently only has about 25,000 charging points.
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Indeed, the U.K. needs many more charging points if its plan to ban the sale of new diesel and gas-powered vehicles by 2030 is to work. The new law could get the country there, though, as the Competition and Markets Authority has said that the country needs around 250,000 charging points by that time.
The decision to ban vehicles powered by internal combustion engines is part of the U.K.’s plan to hit climate targets since cars and taxis accounted for 16 percent of the country’s emissions in 2019.
While Prime Minister Boris Johnson heralded the move as a major step forward, his opposition, the Labour Party, says the move doesn’t address the “appalling” geographical divide in available charging points.
“London and the South East have more public car charging points than the rest of England and Wales combined. Yet there is nothing here to help address this,” Labour noted.
The government, though, says it is intent on making charging as easy as filling up.
