EV CHARGING: Wales scraps business rates for charging points until 2036

Businesses running electric vehicle charging bays and forecourts in Wales will pay no business rates for a decade, under plans the Welsh Government says will speed up the rollout of chargers.

The 100% relief on non-domestic rates, announced today by Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones, runs until 2036 and is aimed particularly at parts of Wales currently short of charging points.

Non-domestic rates are the business equivalent of council tax, charged on most commercial premises, and the Welsh Government says removing them for charging sites takes away a potential barrier to investment at a critical stage in the growth of electric vehicles.

For the current financial year, councils will be asked to award the relief using their discretionary powers, which where relevant will allow it to be backdated to the start of the 2024-25 financial year.

Regulations will follow later this year to put the relief on a statutory footing from 2027-28 to 2035-36, which subject to Senedd approval would give operators and councils certainty for the years ahead.

Ms Jones said the switch to electric vehicles was “a huge opportunity to cut emissions”, but that the transition would only work “if people can rely on the infrastructure to support it”.

“We want to see a thriving charging network right across Wales, including in the areas that need it most, so that nobody is left behind,” she said.

The relief, she said, gave operators “the certainty they need to keep expanding infrastructure, without the risk of unexpected rates bills”.

She added that providing the support for a full decade “sends a clear signal that Wales is serious about building a charging network we can all depend on”.

The relief goes to the businesses running chargers rather than to drivers directly, but ministers argue lower running costs will mean more sites built and a network drivers can depend on.

Wales’s public charging network has been growing quickly, with 3,813 public chargepoints as of October 2025, up 25.7% in a year, ahead of the growth rate across the UK as a whole.

Councils in the region have been expanding provision too, with Swansea Council trialling on-street charging channels cut into the pavement for households without driveways, alongside fast chargers at its car parks.

The Welsh Government says the relief will support the continued rollout of the infrastructure needed to help drivers make the switch.