A new bill to make gas stations install electric car chargers introduced in the UK

A new “Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill” is being introduced by the government in the UK in the Queen’s Speech.

It includes some interesting measures, including mandatory installations of electric car chargers at motorway services and gas stations.

Similar initiatives have been proposed elsewhere, like in Russia, while gas stations have also started adding electric car charging stations without any mandate, like Tesla Superchargers at QuickCheck gas stations or Shell’s initiative to add chargers to its own gas stations.

The UK government is pledging £600 million to support “the ultra-low emissions’ market” and the new measures include (via the Sun):

• Measures in a bill on automated and electric vehicles announced by the government will also support the invention, design and use of driverless cars.
• Compulsory motor vehicle insurance will be extended to cover the use of automated vehicles to ensure compensation claims continue to be paid quickly, fairly and easily.
• Charge points for electric vehicles at motorway service areas and large fuel retailers will be required under the new laws.

There’s already a £4,500 “plug-in grant” offered as a direct incentive to buy electric vehicles. It helped the country significantly increase its EV fleet, which now accounts for a record 4.2% share of new vehicles registered in the UK.

The increase has naturally attracted charging networks, like ChargePoint and InstaVolt recently announcing that they signed a contract to deploy  “more than 200 ChargePoint rapid charge systems.”

But the new bill could get the momentum going just in time for a series of new all-electric vehicles coming to market, like the next generation Nissan Leaf, which is already a popular vehicle in the country, and Tesla’s Model 3.