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1.8 The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets

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Question 82

Extract F: Accelerating the rollout of ultra-rapid Electric Vehicle (EV) charging networks

Universal access to ultra-rapid EV charging infrastructure is essential for achieving net-zero emissions and modernizing transport systems. A comprehensive national network of high-power charging hubs (>150kW) has the potential to accelerate EV adoption, reduce range anxiety, and significantly lower urban particulate pollution. This transition generates massive positive externalities, including public health savings, reduced environmental degradation, and localized business growth around charging hubs. Furthermore, a reliable charging network provides a strategic economic advantage, positioning the domestic automotive and energy industries at the forefront of the global green transition.15
However, private charge-point operators (CPOs) focus their capital investment almost exclusively on heavily trafficked motorway corridors and affluent urban centers where profit margins are maximized. This leaves rural communities, peripheral regions, and lower-income neighborhoods with a lack of access to fast charging—creating a stark "charging desert". While some advocate for state-funded and planned national charging networks to guarantee equity, critics point out that public provision often suffers from severe government failure, including misallocated grid capacity, slow deployment due to planning bureaucracy, and rapid obsolescence of state-purchased technology as charging speeds evolve.10

Using the data and your economic knowledge, evaluate the economic case for and against leaving the provision of nationwide ultra-rapid EV charging infrastructure to market forces.

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Markscheme

1.8 The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Economics
  3. /1.8 The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets

378 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Economics 1.8 The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets, covering 1.8.1 How markets and prices allocate resources, 1.8.2 The meaning of market failure, 1.8.3 Public goods, private goods and quasi-public goods, 1.8.4 Positive and negative externalities in consumption and production, 1.8.5 Merit and demerit goods, 1.8.6 Market imperfections, 1.8.7 Competition policy (A-level only), 1.8.8 Public ownership, privatisation, regulation and deregulation of markets (A-level only), 1.8.9 Government intervention in markets, and 1.8.10 Government failure. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.

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