Charging is biggest constraint on fleet electrification, new research shows

Availability of charging is the biggest constraint on fleet electrification, according to the new Arval Mobility Observatory Barometer.

It shows 41% of UK fleets say there aren’t enough public charging points, 39% have no charging available at their employees’ homes and 25% have no chargers at their company offices.

“To some extent, the answer can be in the hands of employers. If there are no charging points at offices or at the homes of employees who have off-road parking for a charger to be fitted, then companies could take action to resolve these problems.

“However, there is much that remains outside their control. While the public charging infrastructure is growing, it remains patchy in places, and where employees live in terraced housing or apartments, installation of on-street charging is very limited although that situation is starting to improve.”

Other constraints mentioned in the research include the purchase price of electric cars being higher than internal combustion engine equivalents (30%), model ranges being too restricted (23%), limited driving range (18%) and employee resistance to electric cars (16%).

Peters said: “Again, these are barriers that we believe are starting to disappear quite quickly. The price of acquisition of electric cars is now becoming very close to the same as ICE equivalents, especially when leased.

“As for model ranges being too limited, there are some potential gaps in general availability – such as proper 4x4s and pick-ups – but again, there are models appearing that should help to resolve these issues.

“It’s also interesting that fewer than one in five fleets mention range as an issue. Just a few short years ago, we’re confident that this would’ve been a major concern, but it appears that the 250–350-mile range typically found on fleet electric cars today is sufficient for most needs.”

Finally, Peters said that it was interesting to contrast the UK findings with those from across Europe and globally. “Looking at most of the constraints mentioned in the question, there is limited variance between here and the averages found across other countries. It appears that the issues being faced by fleets when it comes to electrification are quite similar everywhere.”

What constraints are you facing when using electric cars
	UK	Europe	All countries
Not enough public charging points	41	37	37
No charging at employees’ homes	39	29	29
Purchase price higher than an ICE car	30	32	34
No charging points at company offices	25	30	31
Model ranges are too limited	23	26	27
Driving range constraints	18	20	22
Employee resistance to electric cars	16	15	18