40% of fleets avoid public EV chargers, find new survey

A new survey commissioned by electric fuel card provider Paua has found that 40% of fleets do not use any public electric vehicle (EV) chargers.

The research found that billing has proved particularly challenging for fleets. With 75 public charging networks in the UK, there is a challenge with apps, cards and membership schemes that fleet managers don’t have time to organise.

While many chargepoints now provide contactless card payment for instant access, this often comes at a premium charging rate.

Of those surveyed, 85% of fleet managers agreed they would use public charging if there was a single solution to access multiple chargepoints with one single bill.

“What is incredible about this response is the missed opportunity that public charging networks are facing due to the complexity that fleets face accessing and using the solution,” said Niall Riddell, CEO and co-founder of Paua.

He added: “Paua’s electric fuel card solution seeks to overcome these challenges enabling fleets easier access to public charging.”

The research identifies that more than 70% of car fleets and 76% of van fleets are intending to order electric vehicles during 2022. Paua believes that public charging solutions are an important part of a fleet electrification strategy, freeing fleets from depot and home-based charging solutions.

Public charging can also avoid expensive depot and grid upgrades. It enables fleets the ability to consider electrifying alternative routes and to consider smaller battery vehicles. But the key to use of public charging for fleets, according to Paua, is ensuring that drivers have a simple solution enabling them to find the correct chargepoint, initiate a charge event and then for a single bill to end up with the fleet manager.

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