A key challenge for national Government, local authorities and the private sector is planning and delivering Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure with confidence.
This needs to be based on the latest qualitative and quantitative evidence which considers the full range of influencing factors for EV charging, and encourages the right investment which delivers comprehensive EV charging solutions across the whole of the UK.
With our regional perspective, partnerships, and modelling capabilities, Transport for the North (TfN) is ideally positioned to develop an enhanced evidence base that considers the users’ needs and movements across the North’s road network.
Our soon-to-be-published Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) framework has been developed to support local authority and national government partners in the planning and deployment of EV charging infrastructure, to underpin any public sector funding, as well as to inform and enhance any delivery through partnership with the private sector.
Here we outline our EVCI objectives and how the development of the framework can help make a real difference towards a cleaner and greener transport network.
Watch the presentation on our EVCI framework
The key to this is ensuring the network is based on a robust and data-driven evidence base of demand and requirements, which accounts for the trans-boundary nature of private car and freight movements in the North.
Through an understanding of cross-boundary travel across the North, we can support the North in delivering the density and coverage of chargepoints to meet our decarbonisation ambitions. This means putting the right infrastructure in the right place, at the right time – taking value-for-money, resilient and integrated decisions based on user needs.
Our evidence can support our delivery partners in maximising the delivery of EVCI to meet demand in their local area, while balancing associated spatial; social equity and access; and suitability considerations of their place type.
Our EVCI framework identifies requirements in all places across the North – ensuring no one is left behind by understanding whole network distribution.
Our framework seeks to actively avoid any reactive, piecemeal deployment of EV infrastructure across the region. A common understanding of relative costs and impacts for our different places will be critical in exploring the optimum timing and distribution of EV infrastructure delivery to meet our decarbonisation targets.
We are working to deliver on our ambitions through both public and private partnerships. Diverging EV strategies risk perpetuating uncertainty in the market and make it hard to create the environment for private investment (i.e. scale investment opportunities to be of sufficient size for investors).
Our evidence is aimed at creating an attractive environment for operators and investors, to develop and embed sustainable and inclusive long-term commercial models that deliver an efficient and effective network for the EV user. This regional long-term framework can also enable us to work collaboratively with the public sector, chargepoint operators (CPO) and the energy sector to plan effectively to unlock delivery and investment right across the region.
One of the biggest concerns for the public sector is committing decisions and finance on infrastructure which may result in being obsolete or abortive quite quickly. Our EVCI Framework provides a mechanism to better understand and navigate the uncertainties currently faced, and what they might mean for charging needs across the region, to enhance confidence in making decisions towards EV charging infrastructure.
The model behind our framework is a live tool within TfN’s Analytical Framework, allowing us to react quickly and flexibly to understand the impact of any new evidence and trends around user charging behaviours, as well as charging and vehicle technology advances. By applying the Future Travel Scenarios within our framework, we can continue to assess the broader drivers of user travel movements and what that might mean for network demand (both highway and electric charging).
Our bespoke regional EVCI Framework is breaking new ground – it is at the cutting edge of strategic planning, and can help to inform local, regional and national actions with regards to EV charging infrastructure.
Built to apply and integrate with TfN’s Analytical Framework, our work takes advantage of one of the richest transport and land-use data sets available to build a regional EVCI evidence base. This data-driven approach enables us to forecast the full range of infrastructure requirements, based on our understanding of a wide range of road user factors, in a manner that provides additional capacity and capability for TfN and local authorities.
Built up from Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) level, the tool translates TfN and partners regional travel demand (for car, van and HGV fleet demand) and land-use estimates (travel patterns, car population, socio-demographics, household types etc) to quantify the requirement for chargepoints covering the full range of journeys being made to, from, and within our region. From this we can also identify the impact of EV charging on the electricity distribution network, and work with the energy sector to seek a collective whole systems approach to EV infrastructure.
The tool provides TfN and partners with robust temporal and spatial routemaps at a granular level for all places across the North. This can inform value-for-money, resilient and integrated decisions. It does this with a view to supporting outcomes across the North which provide coverage of chargepoints to meet our decarbonisation ambitions.
Our framework seeks to identify the right infrastructure needs in the right place, at the right time; whilst recognising the need of the user across the whole regional network. It also provide a means to assess social and spatial considerations associated with EV charging infrastructure.
We can now provide a framework with which to create an attractive investment environment for all area types across the region. Providing both public and private sectors with evidence which can help de-risk investment decisions helps ensure we target EV infrastructure that provides for a rapid and consistent transition to EV which is accessible right across the North. Our tool provides the capability to monitor and evaluate progress to ensure EV uptake across the region is one of the active solutions to reach our decarbonisation targets.
Our evidence supports a rapid roll out of EV charging infrastructure, but also allows decision makers to plan and act responsively in the face of uncertainty. Human behaviours (both travel and charging) and technology advances will have a major impact on the demand for EV charging infrastructure (both amount and type).
By applying our Future Travel Scenarios, we can understand different EVCI requirements suited to potential future user travel patterns and choices. Our evidence also supports an understanding of impacts resulting from different charging behaviour preferences (i.e. at home/on-street, destination or en-route).
The EVCI model is designed to provide outputs as open data. The Intellectual Property (IP) sits with TfN and will therefore be integrated into TfN’s Analytical Framework, allowing TfN to maintain and update it based on new evidence, and to share freely with our local authority partners and other stakeholders.
Taking an integrated approach is the only way to deliver the transition to EVs that we need. This means asking difficult questions and challenging the norm across sectors and with new partners. We will continue to collaborate with existing and new partners, as well as using our regional forum to share knowledge and a joined-up approach where appropriate, with a view to maintaining our ‘whole network, whole system’ approach, encouraging constructive resolutions, and informing national, regional and local EVCI planning and decision-making.
We are also developing plans for additional activities which target key areas of priority and challenge identified by partners and feedback from academic reviews. Any immediate advancements to our EVCI Framework will particularly focus on broadening our capability to consider sustainability, spatial and social factors associated with the transition to electric vehicles. These elements are key when considering wider place policies and strategies, particularly at local authority level were challenges faced can cross over a number of plans and strategies.