EV drivers with no off-street parking face a charging challenge, says AFP chair Paul Hollick.

AFP chair Paul Hollick

When it comes to fleet electric vehicle adoption, the single biggest barrier that remains for the majority of fleets is almost certainly the availability of kerbside charging.

Every day, the AFP hears from businesses – especially van fleets – who want to speed up the electrification of their operations, but are being hampered. They come up against the problem of providing charging for drivers who live in terraced streets or apartments and do not have off-road parking or any other access to a charger. This is generally thought to be about 40% of drivers across all fleets but, when it comes to light commercial vehicles, we believe the figure to be nearer 70%.

The answer to this problem is kerbside charging – and effective designs are now available from a variety of providers. However, these are currently fitted in very few places when they really need to be widely available on every street where drivers of EVs live.

Investment incoming

The Government recently announced a very welcome new EV charging infrastructure package, which commits £1.6bn to the creation of 300,000 public charge points by 2030. It also places new legal responsibilities on charging providers covering means of payment and other factors. However, we still don’t know details about the likely speed of implementation or how accessible the funding will be for local authorities.

This situation has prompted the AFP to form a new Kerbside Charging Group in order to promote effective on-the-ground solutions for businesses adopting EVs in places where other charging options are unavailable. The members of the group can be seen in the table (right). It is designed to push forward progress in a very practical manner. Our plan is to work with fleets, charging providers and local authorities to ensure that kerbside facilities are available in the places where they are needed.

First things first

Job number one for the group is the construction of a national map showing street-by-street demand for kerbside charging that can be used by national and local government, as well as charging and electricity suppliers, to see where kerbside chargers are most urgently needed.

By drawing from within the AFP and some other recognised sources, we can collate geographical information on around 160,000 potential and existing drivers to construct an initial draft. However, it makes sense to open the process up to all fleet operators who are embarking on the process of electrification and we hope to reach as many organisations as possible, whether they run a dozen vehicles or thousands.

We’re asking all fleet operators to provide information showing locations of their current and expected demand for kerbside charging facilities. All they have to do is e-mail us ([email protected]) to flag their interest and an AFP member will call them to discuss how the process works. All data provided will be anonymised so as not to breach GDPR regulations; something which should effectively make the process accessible to all.

If these fleets are able to tell us where they need charging, we can share the information with relevant parties to see where new facilities are most urgently needed. This should help to guide future provision and could have a direct impact on your EV operations.

Time to act now

It’s no exaggeration to say that the creation of the Kerbside Charging Group has created more interest than any other subject or campaign with which the AFP has become involved and we are attempting to generate as much progress in as short space of time as possible. We hope to have the first draft of our demand map ready within a matter of weeks and will provide updates on a regular basis via Fleet World and other channels.