FAQs - Electric Vehicle Chargers
Typical questions and answers around the installation and use of electric vehicle (EV) chargers installed for EV drivers to use to charge their vehicle batteries at work and their own homes.
Business related grants are available in the UK from the OLEV (the Office for Low Emission Vehicles). The business must be registered, declare that it requires electric vehicle charging equipment or an intent to encourage electric vehicle usage amongst its workforce, have a dedicated off-street parking area for staff and fleet company vehicles, and be willing to provide chargepoint usage data to OLEV.
If you have local energy storage either as part of a renewable power system or uninterruptible power supply system, it may be possible to use some of this energy for discharge to the grid or to support your on-site EV charge installation. The electrical installation would have to be designed, installed and certified to the relevant IEEE wiring regulations and codes by an approved electrical contractor.
One of the first things an organisation should do is generate and issue their Workplace Charging Policy. This should detail who can use on-site charging installations, and how to reserve and book them and whether employees are charged for the electricity used. Access to local EV chargers can be controlled using an mobile phone App on a smart phone, an RFID card that has to be swiped or presented to a reader to start charging or a contactless payment card.