ELECTRIC TRANSPORT
FIVE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE INSTALLING
WORKPLACE EV CHARGING
Andreas Atkins of Centrica Business Solutions discusses the factors companies should consider when shifting their businesses to electric vehicles (EV) and installing workplace charging
I
n readiness for the 2030 UK ban on new petrol and diesel vehicle sales and the mass shift to EV,
many businesses are now looking ahead to develop workplace charging. There are, however, five questions you should ask to get your site EV ready:
1. IS IT FEASIBLE TO INSTALL EV CHARGE POINTS AT YOUR SITE? Start your feasibility study by assessing the strength of support from senior management and employees. Are there any other barriers that could thwart your plans? For those who rent their site, installing workplace charging will require landlord permission. Do you have enough land or existing parking bays
to install charge points? How close is your power supply? You must also consider the feasibility of scaling up your EV infrastructure as demand grows.
2. WHO NEEDS TO CHARGE AND HOW? Understand the needs of your employees, customers and site visitors to work out whether you need to install workplace charging and the number and type of charge points required. How many staff already drive private or company electric cars? How many others plan to switch
to EVs over the next three to five years? Do home/public charge points satisfy their needs? For those who can’t charge at home, how
long is their vehicle typically parked at work and what’s their usual average daily mileage? This will help determine the type of charge point required, for example: • Standard (3-7kW) – charging takes 4-8 hours • Fast (7-22kW) – charging takes 2-4 hours • Rapid (up to 50kW) – charging takes 30-60 minutes
• Ultra Rapid (150kW) – charging takes 20 minutes. If vehicles are stationary for much of the day,
then lower cost, slower charging units, will probably suffice, but you will probably require a mix of charge point types to suit varied demand. This may also mean extending EV charging to employee homes in a new era of hybrid home/office working.
3. DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH ON-SITE ELECTRICITY CAPACITY? Installing charging will increase your site’s electricity demand. Calculate how much extra power you require and what times of day. This will probably mean making changes to your current supply, but could necessitate an enhanced grid connection in the event of local supply constraints. Make sure your charge point technology provides load balancing, which enables you to keep within your available capacity limits. If additional
capacity is required, is there the opportunity to self generate and integrate your EV infrastructure with solar and battery storage? Specifying smart
chargers enables you to optimise the time of charging, to take advantage of
20 ENERGY MANAGEMENT - Autumn 2021
off-peak, lower prices. Consider future technologies too, such as Vehicle 2 Grid (V2G.)
4. DO THE ECONOMICS OF YOUR EV PLAN STACK-UP? Understand the full ongoing costs of your on-site charging facilities and energy supply to ensure that your financial model stacks up and aligns with wider business goals. Ensure that you make the most of the funding and tax incentives and think about how you will gain visibility and control over usage in order to keep operational costs under control. If you plan to integrate on-site generation and
storage, consider how you will fund your additional energy infrastructure. We can provide finance to support delivery of your CAPEX free project.
5. HOW WILL YOU MANAGE CHARGE POINT OPERATION? How will you manage the day-to-day operation of your EV infrastructure? What technologies do you need to provide you with complete control, security and visibility of your assets? How will you manage integration with on-site
generation and storage? How will you optimise tariffs and automate load scheduling and sharing for improved cost and energy efficiency? What actions must you take to ensure long-term efficiency and keep your assets operating at peak performance? How will you gain control over who uses your
workplace charge points and when? How will you distinguish between private and business mileage, or integrate home charging facilities? Do you want to bill all users, or set different tariffs for various users? What are your ongoing maintenance requirements? These are just some of the many questions
you need to ask when developing plans for workplace charging. To help, Centrica Business Solutions provides the EV enablement support organisations require to implement cost effective and sustainable workplace charging.
Centrica Business Solutions
www.centricabusinesssolutions.com/energy- solutions/products/electric-vehicles
www.energymanagementmag.co.uk
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