Electric vehicle adoption is growing and considered a major success. However, the experience of running an EV is being tainted for many by the recharging infrastructure, says AFP chair Paul Hollick.

AFP chair Paul Hollick

Headlines in The Sun (“Watch as Tesla drivers are forced to wait hours”) or The Express (“EV drivers face massive wait”) might not carry too much credence, but when it comes to the current situation regarding public EV charging, they probably have a point.

Social media paints a similar picture, with images of long queues to access public chargers all too common. Especially, it seems, from new EV drivers bewildered and annoyed that they face perhaps hours to simply access enough power to get them to their destination.

From across the AFP, we know that almost every EV driver – and certainly every EV fleet manager – has their own war stories about waiting to get their vehicle charged at moments when their range was down to almost zero.

To an extent, we understand it is inevitable that the relatively rapid electrification of the car and van parcs will bring moments when there is a mismatch between vehicle numbers and public charging provision. However, it does feel as though there is no plan in place that will see the current situation really improving.

Recently, Labour accused the government of being “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to new charger capacity and, in a completely politically agnostic manner, it is difficult not to agree. Fewer than 9,000 public chargers were installed in 2022, bringing the national total to just over 37,000. The official target is for 300,000 by the end of the decade so you don’t have to be a maths whizz to know that a massive increase in the rate of installations needs to be happening.

There are a mass of complicating factors, of course, most notably whether new chargers are being installed in places where they are genuinely needed. Certainly, almost every fleet manager is aware of pinch points around the country on major routes while, at the opposite end of the spectrum, there is an almost complete absence of on-street charging outside of London.

This situation, of course, places massive pressure on the existing public charging network but here too, there are a long list of difficulties. Payment remains an issue for some users with a variety of apps required. Many older chargers are simply too slow for the latest models, meaning company vehicle drivers get stuck waiting through something that feels very much like trickle charging. Frustratingly, we even hear of complaints about brand new higher powered chargers that are operating at nothing like their advertised rating. Plus, as any EV driver knows, public chargers seem to simply break down. A lot.

For electric van operators there is the added problem that many charging bays are just not big enough for them to use – an oversight which appears less and less justifiable with the passing of time. Did no-one think electric vans were on their way?

To us at the AFP, the obvious answer to this is some kind of regulatory body to take charge of the situation. We hear that government is resistant to this idea because it wants to leave room in the market for innovation but the situation is that we are in danger of charging issues choking off EV adoption by any business that relies on public charging.

The reality is that our national EV public charging network is as important as any other piece of infrastructure that has a direct impact on the economy – and all of those other infrastructure essentials have some form of strong and effective regulatory authority.

When it comes to speed of public charger installation, where they are sited, the means of payment and the speeds available, there are simply too many weaknesses in the current network for the market to solve the problem. More direction is needed right now.