Charge point sign design ‘depicts fascist symbol’

Feedback on new electric vehicle (EV) charge point signs, being considered by the Department for Transport (DfT), suggests a symbol it used in one design represents fascism.

The survey, commissioned by the DfT, was aimed at evaluating three potential designs to represent EV charging facilities on signs for motorway services, car parks signs and road-side parking bays.  

Currently, the symbol below is only used on road-side parking bays and as an option on motorway service signs. 

The addition of such a symbol to directional parking signs, says the DfT, is intended to improve the experience of using an EV by making it easier to locate charging points and reducing anxiety about running out of charge. 

While EV drivers sometimes use apps to locate charging points, it argues that the visibility and immediacy provided by roadside signage will reinforce this communication mode and help those less able to use digital technologies.

Including the symbol above, two further designs (see above and below) were considered by motorists involved in the survey, with each symbol tested in two variations: green with a white background; and white with a black or blue background. 

The aim was to identify the symbol that is most accurately interpreted, most consistently remembered and that stands out best in visually busy contexts. 

The findings suggest that either of the two symbols depicting cars would perform better than the one derived from the existing ‘petrol pump’ symbol.

The latter, it indicates, is too easily confused with the symbol for a petrol/diesel station – especially when seen in passing.

The report found that a side-on view of a car is more quickly and easily interpreted than a head-on view. 

Furthermore, it found that the inclusion of a socket as well as a plug both aids interpretation and hinders it by over-crowding the symbol with imagery.

Drivers also believed that it was “unhelpful” to show a charging cable emerging from the bonnet in the side-on view of a car symbol. 

In addition, the findings suggest that when other road signs are predominantly black/white and there is good visibility, green symbols stand out better. They are also more strongly associated with EV charging than white symbols.

The report concludes that a green version of one of the two car symbols would be the best choice and, if the DfT decided on the option with the side-on view of a car, it would benefit from minor modifications.

The DfT report on the charging sign survey’s findings also reveals that in interviews researchers were told that the lightning bolt included in the petrol pump example can have associations with fascism. 

Lightning bolts or flashes were a common symbol of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, appearing on uniforms, newspaper mastheads, badges and on the movement's flags. It has subsequently been used by other fascist organisations.