ChargeUK economic impact assessment of EV charging industry: comment

“As well as being scientifically the only way to stop climate change, net zero has now become a major part of the UK economy. Recent analysis has found that the UK’s net zero economy now underpins the jobs of 1.1 million UK workers, who together contributed £105 billion to the UK economy. [2]

“With UK EV sales on the up, it is clear that the country’s charging industry is becoming an increasingly important part of this net zero economy, generating billions in economic output and employing tens of thousands of people. Yet its contribution to the growth of the British economy could be undermined if the Government bows to calls by parts of the car industry to weaken its EV targets. Not only would this keep people stuck driving more expensive petrol cars at the height of an energy crisis, and weaken the UK’s energy security by keeping us dependent on oil imported from abroad, it would put billions of pounds of investment by the charging industry at risk, and threaten thousands of the jobs that the sector is poised to employ. 

"Weakening the mandate could also further incentivise the sale of plug-in hybrids, which have been found to not only cost more to buy that an electric car, [3] but also to consume 5 times more fuel, [4] and costs hundreds of pounds more to run every year, than their manufacturers claim".

A new report commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) with analysis provided by the independent consultancy CBI Economics and The Data City, has found that the UK’s net zero economy now underpins the jobs of 1.1 million UK workers, who together generate £105 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) for the UK economy, From solar panel installers to electric car production line engineers, the report found that those workers employed in the net zero economy generate £119,300 in economic value per full-time job, around 1.5 times the national average – against the backdrop of the UK’s wider productivity stagnation. This leads to higher wages, with net zero jobs earning £43,142, 11% higher than the current national average of £39,039. [2]