The Department for Transport’s £70 million Rapid Charging Fund pilot ended without any grants being awarded after all applicants withdrew from the process, according to a newly published evaluation.
The pilot began in December 2023 and was designed to test grant support for electricity-network upgrades at motorway service areas in England. It was intended to inform delivery of the wider Rapid Charging Fund, originally announced as a £950 million initiative to help enable ultra-rapid charging on England’s strategic road network.
Motorway service-area operators could apply to the pilot, with National Highways acting as the delivery body. The Department for Transport was responsible for final funding decisions. However, the evaluation states that all applicants withdrew before funding could be awarded.
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The independent assessment, carried out by Frontier Economics and SYSTRA, covered the pilot from its inception to January 2025. It was published by the Department for Transport on 8 September 2026.
Despite the lack of awards, the report says the pilot generated lessons for future policy. These include the practical challenges of delivering electricity-network upgrades, the importance of coordination between motorway service-area operators and electricity distribution network operators, and considerations for future funding design.
The evaluation identifies electricity-network capacity as a key constraint on the expansion of charging infrastructure. It says this issue, rather than a lack of commercial interest in installing chargepoints, was central to the difficulties being tested through the pilot.
For drivers relying on rapid public charging for longer trips, the findings underline the role of grid connections and network reinforcement in determining when new high-power chargers can be installed at motorway locations. The report does not record any pilot funding being provided for such upgrades.
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