More EV drivers are charging at home and there is still a long way to go in terms of workplace provision of charging – but fleets need to be smart and forward-thinking when planning for it.

Just 5% of Be.EV members without a home charger use workplace charging

That’s according to a study by Manchester-based EV charging network Be.EV of its members, which found that the majority were reliant on home charging.

The research, carried out in October 2022 among a sample of its 16,000 members, asked them where they mainly charge their EV and saw 55% say at home, followed by 34% publicly and just 11% at work.

Delving into charging habits further, the research found that 63% said they have a charger at home so mainly charge there. But 19% don’t have facilities at home so mainly use public charging; just 5% without a home charger use workplace charging. Elsewhere, 4% said they still used workplace charging despite having home provision while 7% mainly charge publicly although they do have a home charger.

The study, which follows on from last year’s research, also found that the majority of respondents use their EV for both work and personal purposes of EVs. And the availability of public charging infrastructure is a consideration when purchasing an EV for 65% of respondents.

The study was carried out by Be.EV as part of its ongoing work to understand member needs and preferences, and will help inform the company’s work to continuing expanding its network, which will reach over 1,000 chargers by 2024.

Research published by charging firm Monta last month also found that the majority of workplaces don’t offer EV charging; more than half (52%) of UK EV drivers don’t have access to charging at work, according to its YouGov survey. That’s despite huge appetite from employees; 82% of these drivers said they’d want to charge their EV at their place of work if available. And the company has warned that such a disconnect between accessibility and availability of EV charge points continues to put off a large number of would-be drivers.

Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, said the Be.EV results showed a vital role for workplace charging in helping drivers to make the shift – but added that outside-of-the-box thinking was needed to combat issues with power provision and other stumbling blocks.

“Around 40% of houses in the UK don’t have driveways. If we want people without access to home charging to switch to EV en masse, then current, traditional workplace charging won’t be enough. It’s not scalable. If everybody went electric, businesses would need a charger for every employee, that would then be occupied by the same car throughout the working day. That’s neither efficient nor desirable.

“One of the biggest drives towards offering employee charging is happening in the NHS right now, due to highly attractive salary sacrifice schemes and fleet electrification efforts. Our recommendation to trusts is always about a mix, but crucially to stop thinking about converting parking spaces. As charging tech gets faster, it will make much more sense to use land near, say, a hospital site to build an ultra-rapid charging hub for charging on the way in and out of work. That also gets round the problem of power, which is often not sufficient in office or hospital carparks.”

He added: “Employers can decide if they want to use their own land to host charging infrastructure, if they want to subsidise charging for their staff and if they want to earn revenue from it. The key thing is to be smart about local charging infrastructure and know what’s actually needed. At Be.EV, we use sophisticated mapping tools and lots of data to put chargers in the right places, so eventually people are never more than a 10-minute walk away from a charger. If businesses take a big-picture view of local charging infrastructure, they may find that they can make a real difference for EV-driving employees and the community without giving up their carpark.”

Key findings from the Be.EV research

Other key findings from the Be.EV research include:

• Nissan and Tesla remain favourite OEMs for EVs, with the former pipping the latter.
• Over three quarters (78%) of EVs were bought in the last two years. And people are generally buying EVs to replace existing ICE vehicles – unsurprisingly.
• Typically, Be.EV members have only one EV. A total of 61% of respondents have a second ICE car, but a significant 35% of these second vehicles are EVs. And more than a third (39%) rely solely on an electric car, with no second car for back-up. The firm adds that there are some real believers committed to electrification out there.
• The majority (86%) said they were either pleased or very pleased to have made the switch to electric, citing the driving experience (36%), cost savings (31%) and doing their bit for the environment (30%) as key reasons.
• Zap-Map continues to be the most popular source of charging information, used by 58% of members. But this was down from 70% in 2021, indicating that its dominance may be on the wane.
• Availability and reliability overwhelmingly dictate charging habits. More practical considerations – such as those to do with location – are seen to be of relative unimportance. However, multiple charging bays are very desirable and cost of charging, as in 2021, remains an ever-important factor.
• Members want to see more chargers in car parks and retail parks in particular. But on-street demand remains high.
• Overall, 62% of EV users are not satisfied with the UK’s current EV infrastructure, showing that there’s a long way to go!

For more details about the study, click here.