4 More public chargers are required
Access to convenient and cost-efficient charging is vital for EV fleets, but the results show there’s still room for improvement. Almost half (48%) of fleets said there are not enough public chargers to meet their needs, while 38% said they could be easier for drivers to use.
Thankfully, fleets have more options than they had with fossil fuels. Most (79%) said their vehicles are plugged in overnight, supplemented by charging during drivers’ break times (23%) or dedicated mid-shift stops (21%) –and the locations differ between vehicle types:
Where are your vehicles charged?
5 Home charging benefits are appreciated by most
Charging at drivers’ homes reduces the cost and operational challenges of deploying electric vehicles – unsurprisingly, 75% of respondents are doing so. Although two-thirds of fleets (64%) said drivers pay to have chargers installed, the remainder almost evenly split between paying for it for all employees (18%) or only for those with a job need (17%).
Employer-funded home charging points are Benefit-in-Kind exempt, can deliver lower operating costs compared to public charging and enable reimbursement to be automated too. All new home chargers installed since 30 June 2022 must include a data connection – and some can automatically invoice employers for the cost of energy used.
6 Workplace charging really does work
Three-quarters (74%) of surveyed fleets said they had installed workplace charging, either exclusively for employees (such as a depot) or available to visitors too. The advantages can be similar to home charging; drivers don’t pay Benefit-in-Kind for the energy, even if it’s for private journeys, while fleet operators can reduce their dependence on more expensive public networks.
Despite those benefits, fleets saw the most value integrating workplace charging within their decarbonisation strategy. Operators with their own charging points were also more likely to be generating energy from renewables (37% vs 33%) and have solutions for energy storage (18% vs 10%) and load management (33% vs 22%) than the overall average.
What do fleets want from workplace charging?
