Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that the manufacturers of electric and hybrid cars which utilise charging points adopt a common charging connection for all such vehicles; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

Industry has been slow to deliver pan-European standardisation on chargepoint connectors with different vehicle manufacturers advocating their own preferred standards. However there are signs that this is now changing. The recent EU Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure will standardise provision of connectors for rapid chargepoints across Europe. In the UK we have already sought to address this by requiring that all government funded rapid chargepoints must work with all available types of ultra low emission vehicle (ULEV). All Government-funded slower chargepoints must also have a Type 2 inlet on them – no other sockets are permitted. This position is supported by the vehicle manufacturers, all of whom agree that Type 2 is the most appropriate standard for public charging in the UK.