Some of the most commonly asked questions on electric vehicles (EVs) for you and your business.
Last updated 2 December 2022
The process will depend on whether you’re installing a small charge point at your home or small business, or a multiple connection charge point for a larger business or car park. Start by contacting an accredited installer to confirm whether your electricity supply can support the charge point. Provided there are no problems with your electricity supply or the equipment which joins your internal wiring to our network, your installer can install the charge point and notify us about the installation after it’s done. If your existing supply can’t support the charge point, your installer will apply to us for an upgrade. For more information visit our connections page.
The cost of a charge will depend on the car, charge point, length of time charging and the cost of electricity. For more details about charging speeds visit the RAC website.
There are specialist EV tariffs on the market which will typically give you a four-hour, off-peak window at a reduced rate, but you may find your rate for the rest of the day will be higher than a flat day rate.
Not necessarily. The speed of the charge point you choose depends on your customers’ behaviours or the behaviours you want to encourage.
Rapid charge points are ideal if you want to encourage a quick turnover of customers with each spending less than 30 minutes plugged in such as at a motorway service station. If you expect your customers to be stationary for longer, you may prefer to offer more fast or slow charge points instead. If you have a car park where your customers stay for several hours, fast or slow charge points will be enough.
Please note:
Charge points provide optimum charging when the EV’s battery is between 20%-80%; outside of this range the battery management system may limit the charging capacity. This means your customers may occupy your rapid charge point for longer periods.
EV battery management systems are designed to avoid over-heating, so your charge points may charge at a slower rate in hot weather.
This will depend on the number of customers, business vehicles and employees using the charge points and the length of time you expect them to charge. The length of time they charge their EVs will depend on the cost and the reason they need to charge – how much charge do they have on arrival and how much do they want to have by the time they leave.
Employee and company vehicles are more likely to be parked for longer periods so you may need one charge point per vehicle per shift, whereas customers are more likely to charge for shorter periods.
You should also consider how many EVs you need to charge at the same time. Having two EVs doesn’t mean you need two charge points. Charging on alternate nights or once or twice a week may be enough for EVs with a 200-mile range.
You should make sure your charge points are installed by a qualified electrician or a specialist EV installer, depending on the complexity of the EV charge point you’re installing. Some charge points are simple to install and can just be wired into the existing supply, while others have advanced energy management and billing systems.
If you’re applying for a government grant, you need to use an installer accredited by the Office for Zero Carbon Emissions. Your installer may also need to be accredited by the manufacturer of the charge point for warranty purposes.
The cost to install a domestic AC charge point will be between £900 – £1,300 providing your electricity supply is adequate. Additional costs may be incurred if the supply needs to be upgraded or if additional functionality is needed. The cost to supply and install DC rapid chargers could be over £20,000.
This depends on the type of charge point, the reason they have stopped, and the cost of parking/charging. Many businesses have introduced restrictions on how long a vehicle can connect to a rapid charger (typically around 90 minutes). Businesses who want customers to stay longer, such as shopping centres and coffee shops, may choose not to impose any restrictions.
If you offer unlimited charging at low cost in a car par that’s open to the public, you may find that your customers/local residents choose to charge their EVs at your site, rather than purchase or use a home charge point.
Generally, the time taken to charge an EV ranges from 20 – 45 minutes, using a DC rapid charge point, to 8 – 10 hours for an AC charge point (32A). For more details on charging times visit Pod Point.
Yes you can but it’s important to consider what behaviours you want to encourage. Some retail businesses offer free charging to attract customers. Some businesses use EV charging to generate additional profit while others charge at cost. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.
There are a number of payment options for EV charging:
an unlimited monthly/annual pass where your customers/employees pay a flat rate to use the charging network provided
smart device apps for mobile phones and tablets which can be used with charging cables and specific charge points to measure and bill for the energy used
time-based charging – customers are charged for the time they spend in a parking space whether they use the charger or not
contactless card payments – most EV charge points are designed for retail use and can take a payment via a contactless card reader.
Most charge points can be connected to an app or web-based software. When a customer uses the charge point they pay via the app/website which is then credited to your account.
Vehicle to grid technology (V2G) enables energy stored in EVs to be fed back into the electricity network. This means that if you have your own generation, such as solar panels, you can charge your vehicles using excess energy produced from your generator and store the energy in your EV battery for later use. This means you can benefit from time-of-use tariffs by charging your vehicles when energy prices are cheaper and discharging this energy to the grid when prices are high. This also helps reduce peak demand on the electricity network.
To connect your charge points under our install and notify policy you need to comply with the following:
Total installed property generating capacity (including any solar panels, storage and V2G storage) ≤3.68kW (16A) per phase and excluding any export limiting device