What are The Electric Vehicle (Smart Charge Points) Regulations?

The first-of-its-kind regulation, officially known as The Electric Vehicle (Smart Charge Points) Regulations, will ensure that every private EV charger sold in the UK from the 30th June 2022 will have “smart charging functionality” built in.

Devices on sale from this point must meet the government’s full list of regulatory requirements and those found selling non-compliant chargers could be fined up to £10,000 by the Office for Product Safety Standards (OPSS), which will enforce the regulations.

In December 2022, there will be a further part to the regulations which focus on the cyber security of EV chargers (including physical hardware aspects), but it’s important to note that electric vehicle charging regulation is evolving rapidly in the UK and around the world. Therefore, we expect many more developments in the months and years to come.

The UK Government, or more specifically, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is bringing these regulations in, with the support of industry experts, to protect consumers and national energy infrastructure.

This includes:

Grid stability – If a large number of EVs start or stop charging simultaneously, this will create sudden spikes or drops in electricity demand that could cause issues with balancing energy supply and demand across the power grid.

Cyber attacks – The ability to manipulate a large number of EVs simultaneously can destabilise the electricity system.

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