Transport Committee starts up EV inquiry

First hearing will see MPs focus on issues such as regional disparities and barriers to charging

The House of Commons Transport Committee will get its inquiry into supercharging the EV transition under way on with a focus on the current state of charging infrastructure.

The first session of the Supercharging the EV Transition inquiry takes place at Portcullis House in Westminster at 9.15am on 4 March. It can be watched on Parliament TV.

The committee will explore regional disparities in the current public charging infrastructure and ask whether it has the capacity to cope with a future increase in demand. MPs will look at the cost of building and maintaining charging infrastructure and the barriers to expanding the charging network. 

They will consider the barriers that exist for those without off-street parking and ask how cross-pavement charging can be utilised without creating new safety issues for street usage. 

There will also be a focus on accessibility issues within the charging infrastructure, with MPs set to probe how access to charging points is considered during their build. 

The inquiry comes against the backdrop of manufacturers being mandated to end the sale of new pure petrol or diesel cars by 2030 By 2035 all new cars and vans sold will have to be zero-emission. 

The latest Department for Transport statistics showed a total of 88,513 publicly available charging devices as of 1 February. The government has also announced that grants for households and businesses installing EV chargepoints will rise to £500.  

Witnesses    

• Jarrod Birch, head of policy an public affairs, ChargeUK
• David Boyer, sirector of electricity systems, Energy Networks Association 
• Dr Nicole Bulawa, lecturer in marketing, Lancaster University 
• Wesley Scott, head of industrial sales ands, Brook Green Supply 
• Esme Yuill, head of external affairs, Transport East 

The Transport Committee is a cross-party group of MPs that is appointed by the entire House of Commons to carry out inquiries into the Department for Transport’s policies, scrutinise its decisions and hold it to account.

Ruth Cadbury MP (Brentford and Isleworth, Labour) is chair of the Transport Committee. A full list of members can be found here.