Electric Vehicle Charging UK Government Building Regulations Part S

The UK Government plan on banning all internal combustion engine (ICE) car sales, was targeted for 2030 but under the leadership of Rishi Sunak this has now been delayed to 2035.

Previous plans suggested that hybrid cars would be off the market by 2035 however, this was halted by the government with no news.

PwC have stated “the UK market saw double-digit year on year sales” (PwC,2023) which shows how EVC growth is on the rise, meaning increasingly more electric vehicle charge points are needed.

The new set of building regulations (Part S) was published in April 2023, dictating the number and type of electric vehicle charging facilities for all new builds and major renovations. The building regulations were updated to include regulations: 44D to 44K which were laid on 15 December 2021, coming into effect on 15 June 2022. You will find a handy guide to explain ‘one method’ of complying with the new regulations for all building types below.

Electric Vehicle Charging UK Government Building Regulations Part S

As Graham Thompson, Associate Director, Building Services, set out in his blog post Is the grid ready for electric cars?, EVC’s come with major implications to the national grid which it can’t handle, and with the “2022 energy crisis”, could this put people of having electric vehicles all together?

In fact, the 2022 energy crisis may have some positives - It could help by showing people how crucial and important the energy in our homes and business really is. How many of us just plug in without thinking or leave our TVs on standby without consideration?

Maybe 2022 is the turning point and could be dubbed “the big switch off” forcing us to think differently about our energy use, turning off electronics and unused items of equipment which will assist with the energy demand on the grid - maybe then we will have some of the spare capacity required to power all our vehicles. This will help to provide some of the power, but where will the rest of the demand come from? More work and research is needed over the coming years to ensure the UK’s electricity grid can cope.

If we are going to hit the UK’s EV targets, then newer EVC technologies are going to be needed such as:
- Smart Charging
- Demand sharing and energy management
- Vehicle to grid and battery storage
- Open protocol payments

These technologies will help to drive forward the markets whilst ensuring we have power “when we need it and where we need it”. Have a look through the Cundall Electric vehicle charge point design guide for further information.

Questions for self-reflection

- How can you reduce your electricity use?
- How will you adopt the new Part S?
- What “sustainable” technologies can we use to generate electricity for the future?
- What can the grid do to support EVC?
- How can we “the construction industry” ensure that we have power “when we need it, and where we need it”?