Back at the wheel: Greenwood returns to DfT
New Roads Minister still unconfirmed as DfT fails to grasp wheel
Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.
Top story in today’s edition… Lilian Greenwood MP, the former ‘EV’ Minister, has returned to the DfT in the reshuffle, which looks more like a rendition of the Macarena.
Elsewhere... ChargeUK lays bare the costs they face without energy reform, and as Octopus EV enters Germany, has it abandoned Texas?
I’ve also included a paywall update. As ever, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or message me on LinkedIn.
New Road Minister still unknown as Greenwood returns to DfT
Summary: Ten days after Lilian Greenwood MP left her role as Roads Minister at the Department for Transport, she has now returned to the department “in a new role as Local Transport Minister.”
Is this a U-turn? I’m really not sure which pun to use here. Perhaps the change by the government is best described as a J-turn, because I don’t think anybody expected it.
Quick context: During the recent ministerial reshuffle, Greenwood left her role at DfT to join the Whip’s office. She was seemingly replaced by Keir Mather, the 27 year old MP who doesn’t have a driving licence, not to mention any ministerial or proper work experience.
So, what the bleeding hell has happened? It seems some stakeholders kicked off at the idea of Keir being their representative in DfT for roads. It’s a gigantic brief for a junior minister, and politically contentious. The stakeholders involved in that area are very big and sensitive, especially given the EV transition. It probably would have been fine given the brief overlaps with the Department for Business and Trade. However, the ‘automotive opposite number’ there - Jonathan Reynolds MP - was also moved in the reshuffle. I gather numerous bodies were a bit ‘WTF’ by it all.
Was Greenwood doing a bad job? From everything I hear she was doing very well. Yes, I’ve written before that certain stakeholders have felt ignored, though I lay that blame with officials for poor prioritisation rather than the minister themselves. In her time, Greenwood oversaw the ZEV mandate consultation, brought forward new funding for charge points, and a grant. I’m sure certain lobbyists loved her.
It seems Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander felt similar. From my understanding, she was quite annoyed at the reshuffle and, as a result, was pushing Downing Street to get an additional minister back in the department, potentially to look after ‘major projects’.
What’s the state of play? DfT is yet to update on what all of its ministers are responsible for. What we know is that Keir Mather is confirmed as doing the maritime brief. And Lilian is doing local transport. By process of elimination, that may mean Simon Lightwood MP - who has been local transport minister since 2024 - takes on the roads brief. The fact that he has already been responding to Parliamentary Questions around ‘road’ policy has made several trade bodies assume he’s got the gig - though that isn’t confirmed. In any case, Lightwood is a respected minister and has experienced a lot of crossovers with the EV brief in his local transport role.
Arguably... Given that most of EV policy is, in reality, now very much about boosting local areas with EV uptake and deployment of charging, one thought is it may be carved out under Greenwood’s new post. Although she’s also got the Whip role, so she’ll be quite busy. In this scenario, though, perhaps Lightwood will be refocussed to deal with infrastructure, such as potholes, new roads, bridges. He could also get the aviation brief - essentially doing the ‘major project’ portfolio that Heidi was pushing for.
What I sense won’t happen is Keir Mather becoming ‘roads minister.’ Otherwise, it surely would have already been confirmed. At most, the latest I heard was he may get aviation added to his maritime brief. Both would be nice portfolios versus his experience.
Bit of a mess? I have been calling DfT repeatedly since last week, spoken with five sources, and I still cannot say with any real certainty what the final responsibilities will look like. Mainly, because I don’t believe many people in or outside the Department really know either. As of Wednesday morning, the website has not yet been updated. It’s chaotic and, again, underlines an area DfT really needs to improve on: stakeholder management. All the past 10 days have done is reinforce, for me at least, how unbothered Labour is about motoring. Is Keir Starmer secretly this kid? YouTube - I Like Trains Song.
Paywall update
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Latest EV news...
📈 A new white paper by the trade body ChargeUK has shed light on the huge costs EV charging networks are facing, resulting in higher prices at the plug. According to the body, network’s energy costs have risen up to 79% since 2021, and standing charges have gone up by 462%. ChargeUK is calling for urgent reform to prevent charging becoming a barrier. Find the paper here. The report has been welcomed by EVA England, which commented that three out of four drivers believe that high public charging costs are a key barrier.
📊 On this topic, the AA has published results of a new ‘readiness index’ - gosh, how many of these exist now - which polled 14,915 drivers on the new EV grant. The survey found that 38% said, even with the grant, new EVs were too expensive, 24% said they would ‘never’ buy an EV, and 20% they only buy used cars. Read more. By comparison, a recent survey by dealers found 48% thought it would provide a “useful boost”. See here.
🐙 Octopus Electric Vehicles, pt1. It was recently announced that OEV was launching in Germany, given that it has developed an energy customer base there. Germany has also reintroduced lots of new EV incentives. However, where OEV has seemingly gone quiet is its foray into the US. Originally, they launched in Texas in 2022. But this year, I hear they have effectively shut due to low demand. I understand they’ve shifted to California, where the state still has an EV grant. It’s a small operation, though. Several senior OEV team members have left the business, and the website seems abandoned (lots of links are broken). My understanding is that Octopus Energy (who fund OEV) has a greater interest in selling Kraken software to energy suppliers in the US, as it’s significantly harder to gain a consumer foothold in the US, due to it being a highly regulated market compared to Europe.
🐙 OEV, pt2. To me, this does reinforce a global learning for the UK’s leasing firms about how important incentives are to getting actual private buyers into EVs. It’s little wonder that Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy CEO, is such a supporter of cheap Chinese EVs, which are much more affordable to private wallets. People may recall that OEV has previously tried numerous routes to make a private buyer scheme work, including subscriptions, though insiders have said none have really taken off. With a huge amount of debt on the sheets, clearly, this is a segment OEV has to make work, as there are not many employers left for them to target its salary sacrifice scheme at, which has driven the business to this point.
🐙 OEV, pt3. Given his recent appointment to the Cabinet Office, I’m sure Greg will find it easier to make a case for more incentives if it comes to it. Not that he needs help with connections. Greg is in deep with the Labour Party. Back in the day, he helped the party modernise its online profile. He was also director of the informal ‘party magazine’, Labour List, between 2013 and 2019. When he gave up being director, it was Sir Keir Starmer’s now Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney, who took over from him. I guess it’s who you know.
😫 Talking of Chinese cars... BYD has said the UK’s grant is unfair but suggested it won’t slow them down. As mentioned before, BYD - like other Chinese carmakers - has a lot of room to cut prices. See here (paywall).
🤢 Are EVs causing nausea? The Guardian has an interesting story about how some people are reporting feeling more ill in an EV. I have, on occasion, felt this, though it may more likely be due to fast-accelerating Uber drivers causing all the wine inside me to spin.
🚗 Speaking of erratic driving, news today from the AA reveals that one in four learners are doing their tests in automatics, as EVs are all manual. Read more.
👍 Last week, the first EV charge point installed using Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) funding went live in Bright and Hove. The charger was put in by Char.gy, and now 6,000 more will follow in the region. See here.
💸 To mark a new partnership with Digital Charging Solutions - who run charge cards for certain carmakers - Sainsbury’s Smart Charge is offering 250 bonus Nectar points to DCS customers who charge at any of its locations before 12th October. See here.
🛒 Talking of supermarkets, some recent research by Zapmap and the RAC has revealed that there are now about 4,000 chargers based at them. That’s a 34% rise compared to the end of 2023. Read more.
🤝 Myenergi has a new tie-up with Ovo. The collaboration means that myenergi’s range of chargers will pair with Ovo’s Charge Anytime tariff, which offers off-peak rates at 7p/kWh. Read more.
⚡️ The charging network Urban Fox is bringing 120 lamppost EV chargers to Newport. This will be Wales’ first use of lampposts for EV charging. Read more.
🔌 Solihull, often referred to as the posh bit near Birmingham, is getting 500 new chargers using LEVI funding. The chargers are being installed by Qwello. Residents can contact the council to suggest locations. Read more.
🔋 Shell has developed a new liquid that can, in theory, help make lighter battery packs, plus mean they can be recharged at a faster rate than normal. Read more.
👀 According to the Daily Mirror, DVLA figures suggest that in some London boroughs a tenth of all privately-owned cars are now electric. Read more.
👋 Charge point operators Compleo and Plug Me In have pulled out of the UK market, blaming tough trading conditions in the EV sector. It’s getting competitive out there! Read more.