Our top 5 considerations BEFORE looking at EV charge points for your commercial premises.

As EV becomes more popular there is more demand than ever for EV charge points. You may well be considering installing them at your commercial premises, either for your own staff use, visitors or both.

Here are our top 5 things you need to consider before having them installed. If you have some idea of these before contacting potential installers like ourselves then you'll also save time.

1. Know your electricity consumption

   
   

   Your installer will need to know this in order to make a judgement on whether there is enough spare capacity on your existing electrical connection to cover the additional load from an EV charger(s). Ideally a combination of the overall usage and also peak demand would be needed.

   
   

   If you are already close to using the whole capacity of your supply then either a supply upgrade would be needed or in some cases EV charging can be managed so they don't draw too much and overload the supply. This is known as load balancing.

   
   

2. Apply to your electricity distributor (DNO) for permission

   
   

   All EV charge points need to be approved by your local electricity distributer. This isn't the company that supplies your electricity, this is the one that distributes it. They will have to assess their network to see if their existing cabling/transformers/infrastructure can handle the extra load.

   
   

   Your installer will usually compete this application on your behalf, they will need to know your consumption figures to be able to complete this.

3. Physical space available

   
   

   You'll need to consider where your are locating your EV chargers. You can't simply fix them whereever you want. Just as car parking spaces have regulations on recommended size, EV charge points must meet regulations on the height they are installed at, distance from the vehicle parking space, distance from other objects and physical protection to avoid them being hit by vehicles. There are also requirements around signage.

   
   

   Of course, in addition to this your installer will need to be able to get a supply to the EV chargers along with communications cables.

   
   

4. Tethered or Un-tethered connections.

   
   

   Put simply, a tethered connection is one where the charging cable remains fixed to the charger Often seen at service stations. Un-tethered is where there is not charging cable attached to the EV point. Drivers use their own cable to plug in.

   
   

   Tethered connections take the hassle away from the driver needing to remember their cable, but they can be unsightly and an issue if they can't be secured neatly when not in use. The only disadvantage to tethered cables is a driver not remembering to put their cable in the car before travelling, although in our experience this is rarely an issue.

   
   

5. How to bill for usage

   
   

   There are many billing systems out there, from smart card operating ones through to debit card readers or app based systems that take payment online.

   We usually find our clients want the most hands off solution possible, drivers use the charger, drivers get billed, the EV owner receives the revenue to offset their electricity usage.

   
   

   Most payment systems cost a small amount each month to administer and this is often paid for by the site owner, however some systems offset all the administration costs on the EV user.