A new national map revealing the locations where fleets need kerbside charging for company van drivers has gone live from the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).

AFP chair Paul Hollick said the high number of drivers without space available offroad to have a charger installed was a major obstacle to electrification

The map shows exactly where drivers employed by AFP member companies require kerbside charging in order to adopt an electric vehicle – and finds that nearly four out of 10 homes (38.7%) are without off-road space that would enable chargers to be fitted for an electric panel van. This is in line with general industry thinking that 40% of drivers don’t have access to a driveway for a yome charge point.

The AFP map also shows that overall 65-70% of AFP van drivers need kerbside charging installed.

Paul Hollick, AFP chair, said that as businesses move to electrify their company vehicles ahead of the Government’s 2030 deadline, the high number of drivers without space available offroad to have a charger installed was a major obstacle to electrification.

“This is especially the case for electric vans, whose drivers are much more likely to live in a terraced house or apartment and lack this kind of parking.

“In these locations, kerbside facilities need to be installed in order for crucial overnight charging to take place – and the new map has been created in order to show national and local government, as well as charging providers, exactly where these new chargers are needed by our members.

“The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many publicly available charging points are simply not big enough to take a panel van. For electric vans to become widely used by fleets, a massive upgrading of the general infrastructure is essential.”

Hollick added that the creation of the new map means that fleet operators can engage in conversations directly with these partners about how quickly charging can be installed.

“It’s very much a situation where, until facilities are available, it is very difficult for electric vans to be adopted. Our aim is for kerbside charging to be made available within a safe 4-5 minute walk for all of these employee drivers.”

Unveiled at the AFP’s conference last week, the map has been produced by net-zero analytics consultancy Field Dynamics and is based on an underlying database that contains 75,000 records, while the map and statistics are aggregated to local authority level. Records will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Hollick added: “We’re very keen for more fleets to add their data to make the map ever more complete, and we’d like to hear from businesses who would be able to contribute their van driver information. This is, of course, anonymised and handled in accordance with all relevant data regulations. Details are available on our website.”