Over the coming months and years local authorities are going to have to balance an ever louder clamour for more EV charging infrastructure with limited funds and squeezed resources.

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To address this, they need to create a portfolio of EV strategies and policies, as well as business cases and funding applications. These processes need to rely on a consistent and robust foundation of evidence. The challenge is building up the expertise to create this evidence foundation, never mind finding the time to create it.

We spoke to Al Gonoude about JumpStart, developed by the team at Field Dynamics to provide local authorities with the data they need to create strong EV charging infrastructure policies that balance social needs with ever tightening budgets.

JumpStart is a structured, proven approach that will build an evidence foundation specific to your authority, using key national data sets then processed through a series of objective analysis sessions. It will give you all the information you need to deliver on your EV challenges to the point of operational hand-off. It will be there as a constant resource for you to reach for whenever you need objective, data based, accurate evidence to back up your approach.

JumpStart has been developed to support authorities involved in the complex challenge of electric vehicle charging infrastructure planning. It will help anyone that needs a single source of truth to refer back to when crafting and developing a policy that balances budget and social need, as well as securing grants and creating business cases for new installations. It can also be used to manage relationships with key external stakeholders.

Navigating the minefield of EV charging infrastructure planning can seem like an impossible task, with a scarcity of accurate, reliable data. We work with policy makers and relevant experts in the authorities who, without the data provided by JumpStart, are at risk of embarking on expensive investments in EV charging  that may not meet the needs of their residents.

Using the JumpStart methodology, we can provide a tool set to helps authorities and their advisors to create strong data-led policy, gain stakeholder support, secure government funding and engage with external suppliers. Following the five-step approach, authorities will receive a report and a customised portfolio of data sets, which present the substantiated decisions and assessments that can be relied upon for future policy and strategy making.

The JumpStart project is very much a collaborative effort between Field Dynamics and the council. This local input is vital throughout the first four steps which are normally run through a series of 2 hour workshops. Key stakeholders such as  Environment, Sustainability, Planning and Transport officers  contribute to these workshops whilst we do the technical aspects in between.

Theoretically, the JumpStart programme could be delivered in a week. However, factoring in availability of key stakeholders, whose input is vital, and the need to reflect on decisions made with all relevant parties, means a two to three week time frame is more realistic.