Referral of the proposed Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. The Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) has accepted a request for a report providing advice to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) concerning its proposed Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme. Contact email updated and third-party submission deadline extended. 24 September 2026: The SAU has accepted a request for a report from OZEV concerning the proposed Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme. This request relates to a Scheme of Particular Interest. The SAU will prepare a report, which will provide an evaluation of OZEV’s assessment of whether the scheme complies with the subsidy control requirements (Assessment of Compliance). The SAU will complete its report within 30 working days. The Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme is a proposed scheme by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV). An indicative allocation of £190 million has been made available for the scheme from the £400 million announced at Spending Review 2025 to support electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure between 2026 and 2030. The proposed scheme aims to support the expansion of open-access EV charging at Motorway Service Areas (MSAs) by addressing the lack of affordable electricity network capacity at some MSAs. Under the scheme, the Government will commission electricity network upgrades at selected MSA sites and then reserve the resulting electricity capacity for MSA operators or charge point operators. These firms will be able to access the reserved capacity by applying directly to the relevant connection provider. Payment for capacity will be via a ‘second comer charge’, which will be partially waived by Government to bring the price to a commercially viable level. The geographical scope of the scheme is England only. The intended beneficiaries are MSA operators and charge point operators seeking to deploy open-access EV charging infrastructure which can be used with any EV. The scheme will focus on MSA sites where the gap between current and future capacity is greatest and the costs of upgrading the network are not commercially viable. The scheme will deliver electricity upgrades to meet projected EV charging demand at selected sites to at least 2035 and potentially up to 2050 in some circumstances. The number of sites that the scheme targets will also be constrained by the scheme budget. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles ran a consultation in June to July 2026, the responses to which will inform the scheme design. If you wish to comment on matters relevant to the SAU’s evaluation of the Assessment of Compliance concerning the Strategic Charging Infrastructure Scheme, please send your comments on the date stipulated in the timetable above. For guidance on representations relevant to the Assessment of Compliance, see the section on reporting period and transparency in the Operation of the subsidy control functions of the Subsidy Advice Unit . Please send your submissions to us at sau-ozevsci-2026@cma.gov.uk , copying the public authority: strategiccharging@dft.gov.uk . Please also provide a contact address and explain in what capacity you are making the submission (for example, as an individual or a representative of a business or organisation). The SAU will only take your submission into account if it can be shared with OZEV. The SAU will send a copy of your submission to OZEV together with its report. This is to allow the public authority to take account of the submission in its decision as to whether to make or modify the scheme or its assessment. We therefore ask that you provide express co