Citizens Advice response to consultation on improving the consumer experience of Electric Vehicle public chargers
We recognise the government may move swiftly and increase support for electric vehicles through a post covid19 ‘green’ economic recovery, aiming to stimulate the motor industry again. It will be crucial to improve people's confidence in and experience of public charging, for this to happen.
However, it is unfortunate that the window for responses to this consultation is so short. To fully improve the consumer experience, we encourage the government to continue and build on its stakeholder engagement of this issue above and beyond this consultation.
This consultation highlights many of the well known difficulties associated with public charging. Citizens Advice has carried out a qualitative analysis of public social media posts on twitter (tweets) which gives us insight into some of the other problems consumers face when they use public charging infrastructure. These include public bays that are inaccessible for disabled people and a lack of public chargers in some local areas, which is particularly problematic for people without off street parking. We are aware of the work the government is undertaking in both these areas and encourage engagement with stakeholders, including both local government and the private sector to ensure its success.