Earlier this year, the Commons Transport Select Committee published a report urging the government to provide a clear framework for UK electric vehicle charging infrastructure in order to reach net-zero targets. It also spread unnecessary fear and alarm by highlighting the committee’s concerns that the rising number of EVs could cause power blackouts during peak charging times.
What the report failed to emphasise is the opportunity that EVs provide. They should be part of the energy-storage solution and not the problem. EV batteries are a positive energy-storage asset that needs to be more widely appreciated as such, not become the blackout-causing waste mountain that some anticipate.
The Climate Change Committee predicts that about 18 million battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be on the road by 2030 when a ban on the sale of new internal combustion vehicles is implemented. Through a smart charging infrastructure, vehicle batteries plugged...