Zap-Map survey reveals workplace EV charging gap

Zapmap survey reveals workplace EV charging gap

By
Zapmap
Published

While more than 80% of EV users have access to a charger at home, a similar proportion (75%) are unable to charge their EVs at their place of work, according to the results of a new survey from Zapmap.

With more than 1,450 EV drivers questioned in the latest Zapmap EV Charging Survey, the results provide a detailed insight into the charging behaviours of EV users in the UK.

A key issue revealed by the survey is the low number of EV charge points at the workplace. Of those questioned, only 15% of drivers charge at work with no access at all for 53% of EV drivers in the sample surveyed; as compared to 81% who have home-based charging facilities.

Furthermore, discounting the almost 400 respondents that answered ‘does not apply’, either because they work from home or do not have a workplace as such, the percentage of drivers with no access to workplace charging rises to 75%.

This new finding gives support to the focus for the latest round of EV funding announced earlier this month, which includes up to £10 million for the provision of EV charge points at workplaces and homes with no off-street parking.

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As expected, the survey shows that the vast majority of EV users (93%) use public charge points, the remaining 7% citing availability (lack of), charging cost and complexity as the three most common reasons for not using public chargers.

More interestingly, of those that did use public charging facilities, around a quarter (23%) used them more than once per week, a quarter (25%) once a week, 28% used them around one per month, a fifth (19%) used them less than once per month, with the remainder specifying other responses or ‘not sure’.

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As highlighted in a previous Zapmap survey in 2015, charging facilities play a significant part in influencing where EV drivers park. Of the latest responses, the vast majority (87%) EV of drivers choose to park where there is access to EV charging (48% sometimes, 39% always). Only 13% of plug-in car drivers don’t consider charging needs at all when looking for parking spots.

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As might be expected considering the extent of the Electric Highway network, service stations are the most popular type of public charging location with 65% of drivers regularly making use of the charging facilities. Public car parks (35%), retail car parks (32%), and local authority car parks (29%) are the next most popular destinations.

Interestingly, ahead of on-street parking and Park & Ride sites, dealership forecourts sit fifth in that list, with 20% of drivers regularly using manufacturer supplied charge points. The argument that EV drivers make good use of a manufacturer’s facilities is made even stronger when looking at Tesla drivers. Of those questioned, 128 are Model S drivers. with 126 of them regularly using the Tesla Supercharger network.

Analysed by network, Electric Highway takes top spot in terms of public networks used, with 70% of respondents regularly using the network’s charge points. Charge Your Car comes in at second with 46% of drivers using the national network, while Chargemaster’s POLAR network complete the podium in third at 34% of those questioned.

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Survey stats: The Zapmap survey was conducted on-line during September 2016 generating 1,463 completed responses by EV users. Respondents came from across the UK with 54% stating that their main EV was ‘for private use only’, 25% ‘for personal and business use’ and 16% classed a ‘company car for personal and business use’. Regarding EV models represented in the sample, Leaf owners made up 44% of the sample, with the Outlander PHEV’s 12%, Renault Zoe 12% , BMW i3 10% and Tesla Model S 9%.