As fleets go electric, nearly 25% of drivers don’t have anywhere to charge them.

In our last article, we discussed the impact fleets are going to have on EV ownership. In case you need a recap, 2019 saw 1,711,000 new vehicles registered to corporations. Electric Vehicles (EVs) are becoming an increasingly popular choice among companies as they try to align their fleets with lower emission or Net Zero initiatives.

As fleets move towards EVs, new issues will arise surrounding charging. For these drivers to be able to do their job, they’ll need to charge overnight. But, based on our analysis of residential parking (EV Map), 6,642,000 households in the UK don’t have the space to park and charge off street.

Business drivers will need 100kWh of charge per week

Business drivers will use their vehicles in a different way to private owners. Private owners typically do 3,100 miles per year, or around 60 miles per week. In contrast Business drivers do 18,000 miles per year, covering around 70 miles per day. Their mileage is done consecutively across the working week, so in order to keep working, these vehicles will need to be charged overnight.

If 1kWh of home charging provides 3.4 miles of range, these vehicles will need 100kWh of charge, or 20kwh per day, to keep them on the move. A typical overnight home charger is 7.2kW, this means that 3 hours of charging would cover this deficit.

Right now, each on street charger has to service 1492 vehicles…

Throughout our projects with electric vehicles, we’ve been researching residential charging availability (EV Map).

We analysed all 27 million households in Great Britain to understand whether they can or cannot park and charge an electric vehicle off street at home. Through this research, we determined that a staggering 24.6% of households don’t have access to off street parking. That’s 6,642,000 households that will need to need rely on our public charging network.

Our existing public infrastructure isn’t placed to support overnight charging – they’re located away from residential areas and placed in city centres, supermarkets and other short stay destinations. According to ZapMap, we have almost 17,000 public chargers, and only 4,453 are on-street. Without even considering their location, this works out to be roughly 1 on street charger for every 1492 households without parking.

On street charging provisions need to be increased dramatically to support those that are unable to charge overnight at home and allow them to do their jobs.

From a lifestyle change to a livelihood

As the way the country uses EVs changes, so will the needs of its residents. Right now, councils receive requests for chargers from earlier adopters who’re looking to change their lifestyle. Soon these requests will move from the superficial to something that people need in order to do their jobs. Investments in public networks will have to be well planned in order to protect the livelihoods of these residents and keep them moving.