Editor-at-large Alex Grant’s seven-seat Peugeot e-Rifter

As you read this, the Grant family is about six months into life with an electric car. We bought a seven-seat Peugeot e-Rifter in March and, considering reviews focused on its 170-mile range, it’s been a very easy transition. A full charge lasts several days, and the kids need longer, more frequent mid-journey stops than the car, so we combine comfort breaks with a short top-up. Range isn’t an issue and charging is cheaper and more convenient than refuelling our old petrol MPV, but that’s largely because we have off-street parking.

This is a dividing line as the electric vehicle market gathers pace. We’re often told that home charging is one of the biggest perks of going electric – and that it’s where drivers normally plug in. However, Department for Transport data suggests 24% of vehicles are parked on-street in England, so drivers miss out. Home charging isn’t a prerequisite for going electric, but it makes that process a lot easier.

The alternative typically involves pricier public infrastructure and obstructive, inconsistent regulations. Drivers who are lucky enough to have an on-street parking space on their doorstep can’t install a charge point to go with it and won’t necessarily be permitted to run cables across the pavement to a socket on their own property. With no national rules on the latter, it’s up to local authorities to decide whether to permit it as a helpful step to encourage electric vehicle uptake or ban it as an obstructive trip hazard.

Local authorities themselves have more flexibility. Permitted development rights were extended in July, enabling third parties to install charge points on their behalf, and support is available through the On-Street Residential Charging Scheme and (in England) the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure fund. But infrastructure planning takes time and effort – and recent BVRLA research found only 37% of local authorities had a strategy in place, while 40% hadn’t engaged with fleet operators to assess their needs. The association’s Fleet Friendly Charging Pledge is aimed at encouraging those conversations, recognising that councils have competing transport priorities and often lack the resources and funding to do this alone.

In the meantime, close-to-home charging is a hurdle for businesses encouraging car drivers to go electric, but a much bigger headache for commercial vehicles where ranges are typically shorter and convenient top-ups are vital. The Association of Fleet Professionals has raised concerns that members are slowing their electric van uptake, having faced challenges with range, payload and charging.

I’ve heard similar stories first-hand, with operators waiting months for grid connection upgrades at depots and citing issues providing solutions for home-based drivers parking vans on street.

There isn’t much time to close those gaps. The Government’s zero-emission vehicle mandate has encountered some political pushback recently but, as it stands, 10% of new vans will have to be electric in 2024, rising to 19% in 2025. However, according to the SMMT, electric vans recorded an almost identical just-over-5% market share from January to August 2023 as they did 12 months previously. Unsurprisingly, 93% of BVRLA members believe that the UK’s electric van transition is behind schedule and there are concerns that infrastructure headaches could push operators to hang on to what they already have.

At the very least, it would be nice to see some consistency. Perhaps, as a stop gap, a nationwide approach allowing cable-trailing as long as drivers use high-visibility covers and with penalties for non-compliance, setting baselines for safer charging while offering more options for drivers. As I’ve been finding out first hand with my own electric van, limited range isn’t a dealbreaker if there’s a convenient spot where you can claw it back.