Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Electric Vehicles (EV) Perran Moon has opened the Transport + Energy Forum 2025 with a call for a just transition in the roll-out of EV charging infrastructure.
In a recorded message to the Forum, Moon explained in terms of the deployment of EV charging infrastructure to-date, he said it had been ‘relatively’ successful, but with the benefit of hindsight “there shouldn’t have been so much involvement of local authorities”.
Moon, who before becoming a politician had previously been the chief marketing officer and interim CEO of charge point operator (CPO) Believ, added that the way that Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding was not applied “as efficient as could have been”.
He said that he would have liked local and national governments to “get out of the way” and that he wished that the private sector had been allowed to “get on with it” in areas where there was a “high” commercial case for it.
But he also added, that the LEVI funding “should have been deployed in areas where there were areas of higher social depravation and rural areas”, where there was less an obvious commercial case, but a clear need.
He added this would have made it a more “just transition” and accelerated the overall national roll out of infrastructure for EV charging across the UK.
According to Moon, the process had so far been “bureaucratic” and that there were “a number of barriers that needed to be lifted”, such as looking at the DNOs and how they perform and the speed at which they respond to CPOs.
In terms of changes to the ZEV Mandate, he said he was “critical of the changes”, and there was a “danger” and there was a risk of the government “bailing out manufacturers from investing in EVs”.
Moon said:
“The loosening of the ZEV Mandate, I wasn’t in favour of it. And I certainly am not in favour of it being loosened any further. The government is strongly ‘pro’ EVs, unlike opposite parties, who have committed to slow down the roll-out of EVs.
“We need to keep the momentum up, that’s really important. Obviously there are challenges in terms of residual values. But it is not up to government to determine this.”
But he went on to say that this is a transition, and there will be bumps in the road, and “I would not like to see any further dilution of the ZEV Mandate and it sends out the wrong message to consumers about the transition.”
In addition, Moon said that the sectors needed “to focus on the 11 million homes that do not have access to home charging”, but that tax changes on public funding – such as promoted by the FairCharge campaign from the late Quentin Willson – could not be applied right now.
He added:
“I would love to see VAT equalised at 5%, but realistically, in the current fiscal climate that it is a very difficult case to make. So my answer is yes, but not now – we have to balance the books, the timing is not right for that.
“But there are other things we can do, which is support the CPOs in the roll out in social deprived and rural areas.”
On the issue of collaboration and cross-departmental working on EVs, Moon said the best approach, which the APPG was taking, was to “support, rather than look at individual government departments, and take them holistically through the process of EVs”.
For Moon, this included showcasing the journey which includes vehicle manufacturers, dealers and sales, EV infrastructure providers and the DNOs, and making sure the government is aware of those challenges, and finally, but crucially the driver and fleet manager experience.
“Rather than focusing on each department,” he continued, “it is ensuring the whole of government are aware of all the issues – that is a much better approach.”
“Not focusing not on each department, but instead on the lifecycle of EVs; this will increase the understanding, and the knock-on impact of decisions on one area on another,” he concluded.
