Safety concerns of shared EV infrastructure next on agenda, says AFP

Health and safety concerns of sharing electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is next on the agenda for the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP).

Its new shared charging committee is reporting “strong progress” in examining ways in which businesses can make their EV chargers available to other organisations.

AFP chair, Paul Hollick, said: “The main discussion point seems 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 is one of the questions that we’ll be looking at during our next meeting in May.”

Hollick told the most recent Fleet News at 10 that there is growing interest among fleets for shared charging facilities, with DPD and Royal Mail prepared to share access to their infrastructure.

Research, commissioned by the AFP last year, showed almost two-thirds (62%) of fleets would consider allowing electric vans from other operators to access charging infrastructure at their depots.

Hollick said: “Where we are now is that we have a set of electric van operators who think that shared charging is a very good idea and would really like to make it happen. It is the objective of the new committee to look at what needs to be done to make it a practical proposition.

“There are a whole series of hurdles that we face – including setting prices, payment mechanisms, reimbursement, site access, health and safety on premises and more – but from our discussions so far, none of them appear to be impossible to solve.”

Fleets represented at the latest meeting were the AA, Alliance Healthcare, Auditel, IFC Group, National Grid, Novuna and Royal Mail. Also taking part was Evata, a company that specialises in digital infrastructure for shared charging.

Hollick said: “The fleets involved have a range of different ideas and propositions. 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.”

He added that digital infrastructure is available that would answer many of the questions that the committee has 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.

“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,” continued Hollick. “We do seem to be making strong progress.”

If you would like to join the next shared charging committee meeting, e-mail the AFP at administration@theafp.co.uk.