Obstacles to shared EV charging for van fleets could potentially be resolved quite quickly, supporting a wider shift to electrification for operators.

The AFP’s work has shown strong support from van fleets for shared charging

The Association of Fleet Professionals’ (AFP) new shared charging committee has said that while the proposition faces hurdles from setting prices, payment mechanisms, site access and health and safety, none are insurmountable according to its discussions so far.

AFP chair Paul Hollick said the group was making “strong progress” and its work – including discussions with fleets such as the AA, National Grid, Novuna and Royal Mail – showed strong support from fleet operators, albeit with a range of different ideas and propositions.

He outlined: “Some want to arrange reciprocal charging with others on a national basis, some have chargers and would like to offer access to others, and some even have land available where they would potentially be able to install further chargers for widespread fleet use.

“There seems to be general agreement that shared charging is not really about overnight use but providing an option for top-up charging that enables an electric van driver to complete their journey during a working day.

“From our latest meeting, it appears that digital infrastructure is available that would answer many of the questions that we have around pricing, payment, blocking out availability to ensure that ‘home’ fleets get priority access to charging when they need it, and even site access where there are security measures in place such as RFID gate access.”

Hollick added that the main sticking point seemed to be health and safety, with employees entering sites where there are potential risks present of many different kinds. This has implications for both the business providing charging and the visiting driver – and will come under focus in the next shared charging committee meeting in May.

The AFP also said there appears to be a real will to make shared charging work – research launched by the industry body in October showed almost six out of 10 van fleets (58%) would consider sharing their depot or public charging infrastructure with others to make electrification more practical.

“Creating greater access to charging is really the number one measure that would help electric van operators to solve many of the operational issues that they face, and shared charging could massively increase the number of chargers available at a stroke. We do seem to be making strong progress,” Hollick affirmed.