Motorway service stations are hiring staff to combat rising levels of EV 'charge rage'

The number of charging stations cannot keep up with the transition to electric vehicles. Photo: Doug Peters/PA

UK's largest motorway service Petrol station supplier prosecutes police officers to 'charge rampant' EV drivers fighting for access to charging points.

Moto CEO Ken McMaikan warns that UK petrol stations are facing growing «civil unrest». due to a lack of grid connections, it was unable to install enough car chargers to meet growing demand.

It means many motorists face long waits, with angry drivers arguing with staff and each other over a lack of chargers.

Mr McMaikan said the delays had left drivers «very angry and stressed » and warned of the growing risk. 'charge rage' on UK motorways.

He said: 'People need to drive their electric cars without worrying about range, without long queues and without public disturbances, but during peak seasonal periods we are experiencing all of this now » «.

Moto, which operates 49 motorways across the UK, has already appointed marshals in Exeter, Rugby and Wetherby to manage electric vehicle queues and prevent conflicts during busy periods.

0104 Electric vehicle infrastructure struggles to keep up

Mr McMaikan, the 58th person to drive an electric car himself, said he had told the government about the problem and warned ministers that incidents of public disorder would rise.

He told The Telegraph: «I was telling them that we don't have enough power on the grid right now to provide the power we need at the time we need it.

«If we don't get a guaranteed amount of power, then in the coming years, every Christmas, every Easter, all summer holidays and peak weekends will be equivalent to a petrol and diesel fuel crisis.”

Last Christmas, electric car drivers were forced to queue for up to six hours at some service stations across the UK.

Unlike a petrol or diesel engine, which only takes a few minutes to refuel, a typical electric car takes only a few minutes to recharge. it will take at least half an hour. This means that many more charging stations will be needed to service electric vehicles.

A Moto boss has become the latest senior business leader to warn that long network connection delays are holding back the rollout of charging stations.

p>

The CEO of Gridserve, one of the UK's largest electric vehicle charging companies, earlier this month told The Telegraph that delays have forced his business to rely on batteries and generators to power vehicles.

Mr McMaikan said: «You'll see queues of people and public disorder because there hasn't been enough electricity supplied to the motorway service areas… to allow people to charge their cars and then continue their journey.»

«There In Government believe that rather than ensuring there are enough chargers, we should think about how to manage queues.»

Risk of public unrest

Mr McMaikan said he had repeatedly told Jesse Norman, the Minister for decarbonization of transport that queuing electric motorists would expose its employees and motorists to the risk of «rage charges».

“I have spoken to Jessie Norman, to the special advisers and to National Highways, who are responsible for managing the highway network. They are all responsible for making sure there are chargers on motorways, but they don't do it. They don't solve the fundamental problem — electricity.»

There are already around 850,000 electric vehicles on UK roads, and two in ten new cars registered in August were electric.

Despite the recent delay to a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, the Government last week confirmed that more than a fifth of new cars sold by manufacturers in the UK next year will have to be zero-emission, with that figure rising to 80% by 2030 .

Registration of new electric vehicles

Mr McMaikan was previously chief executive of Greggs and led the company's rebellion against the government's 2012 «cake tax», which was eventually abandoned.

He said he now plans to involve the government again, blaming its failure is that it failed motorists by failing to connect motorways to the network.

The inaction has forced Moto to seek permission to build up to 25 solar farms near its gas stations to «guarantee the amount of energy needed for electric vehicle drivers», Mr McMaikan said.

The inaction has forced Moto to seek permission to build up to 25 solar farms near its petrol stations to «guarantee the amount of power needed for electric vehicle drivers», Mr McMaikan said. p>

“I’m so upset and so worried.”

Ken McMaikan, who led the bakers' revolt against the «cake tax» when he was head of Greggs, is again challenging the government over electric car charger connections. Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Asif Ghafoor, chief executive of community network Be. EV said queues on motorways last Christmas were a «nightmare» and called for the planning and networking process to be simplified.

He said: “Aside from the ambitious targets, the reality is that every step of the planning, permitting, power supply and construction process is slowing down the installation… Anyone can see that this is nowhere near fast enough to cope with the number of drivers switching to electric vehicles.

James Court, chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Association of England, which represents electric vehicle drivers, said: “Network connectivity appears to be holding back faster rollout.”

“We are in a situation where investors are keen to get to work and we don't need huge public investment now that private companies are leading the way, however we do need a clear government plan and planning and communications reform.» A DfT spokesman said: » Some 96% of motorway service areas already have chargers and we know the industry plans to install hundreds more charge points in the coming months.»

«The Government has invested more than £2 billion in the transition to electric vehicles, with The number of public charging stations across the country has increased by 43% since last year, putting us on track to have 300,000 charging stations by 2030.”