SAU to review £190m motorway EV charging subsidy scheme

The Subsidy Advice Unit has accepted a request from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles for a reportGOV on the proposed Strategic Charging Infrastructure SchemeGOV, a Scheme of Particular InterestGOV. The reporting period began on 24 September 2026GOV, and the SAU will complete its report within 30 working days, publishing it on 4 November 2026GOV. The report will evaluate OZEV's assessment of whether the scheme complies with the subsidy control requirementsGOV.

The scheme carries an indicative allocation of £190 millionGOV from the £400 million announced at Spending Review 2025 to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure between 2026 and 2030. It aims to expand open-access EV charging at motorway service areasGOV by addressing the lack of affordable electricity network capacity at some sitesGOV. The Government will commission electricity network upgrades at selected sites and reserve the resulting capacity for motorway service area operators or charge point operators, which will access it by applying directly to the relevant connection provider. Payment for capacity will be through a second comer charge, partially waived by the Government to bring the price to a commercially viable level.

The scope is England onlyGOV, and the intended beneficiaries are motorway service area operators and charge point operators deploying open-access charging usable with any electric vehicleGOV. The scheme will focus on sites where the gap between current and future capacity is greatest and upgrade costs are not commercially viable. Upgrades are to meet projected charging demand at selected sites to at least 2035, and potentially to 2050 in some circumstances; the number of sites is constrained by the budget. OZEV ran a consultation in June to July 2026 whose responses will inform the scheme design.

Third parties wishing to comment on matters relevant to the SAU's evaluation have until 7 October 2026GOV. Submissions go to sau-ozevsci@cma.gov.uk, copying OZEV at strategiccharging@dft.gov.uk, with a contact address and an explanation of the capacity in which the submission is made. The SAU will only take a submission into account if it can be shared with OZEVGOV: it sends each submission to OZEV with its report so the authority can take account of it when deciding whether to make or modify the scheme or its assessment, so contributors must give express consent for the full unredacted submission to be sharedGOV, and are encouraged to share it with OZEV directly. Material in submissions may appear in the published report, so any commercially confidential parts should be identified; the SAU will contact contributors before referring to material marked confidential.

Legal basis: the Subsidy Advice Unit's functions under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, with Schemes of Particular Interest defined in the Subsidy Control (Subsidies and Schemes of Interest or Particular Interest) Regulations 2022.