The UK has seen a record uptake of electric vehicle sales according to new data – with more EVs purchased in 2023 than 2021 and 2022 combined, and one million now on our roads.
However, for the five million people who live in apartments in the UK, and those that don’t have access to a driveway or garage, the restrictions to at home charging are creating a divide in the full transition to electric vehicles.
ChargeGuru’s Managing Director Denis Watling is calling on apartment building owners to help bring millions into the EV revolution by creating access to overnight charging solutions in thousands of locations across the UK:
According to recent research a huge 85% of EV owners charge their cars at home, and whilst conversations around on-street charging and range anxiety are grabbing headlines, it is the ability for everyone to charge at home, not in public, that needs to be addressed.
Unsurprisingly just 20% of drivers would consider having an electric vehicle if they couldn’t charge it at home. For those drivers living in dwellings without access to their own charging solution, they are faced with the choice of either paying more for public charging, or being left behind in the EV revolution.
Installing the facilities which allow everyone to have access to charging points at home is key, regardless of whether they have a driveway or garage – which only around half (56%) of British homes currently do. To help make the transition to electric vehicles a fair and equitable choice for all, we have to make sure that no one is excluded from being able to charge their vehicle “at home”
Without this access to at home or domestic charging tariffs, drivers can be paying between 3 and 10 times more to charge their EV.
In the most part it is still a real challenge to make the swap to an EV for those people living in houses without any dedicated, off-street parking. It’s a challenge which the industry as a whole is always looking to solve, with innovative solutions cropping up all the time.
However for the ~23% of households who live in apartment blocks, there still seems to be a lack of suitable solutions for at home charging. Whilst new legislation will see new build apartments and office buildings required to include charging points, what does this mean for existing properties? As more money is being invested into public charging points, we must not ignore the need to retrofit buildings with future-proof charging solutions.
Property managers and landlords are increasingly being called upon to provide charging options for residents, which usually results in a difficult and time consuming process, often resulting in a solution which solves the short-term need but isn’t future-proofed.
Looking at our neighbours in France, they are leading the way when it comes to providing charging solutions to residential buildings, with over 15,000 apartment buildings opting to use the Zeplug charging solution, equating to over 1 million private parking spaces. The Zeplug solution provides a zero-cost, scaleable and hassle-free option to landlords & property managers. It enables their residents to have their own charging point installed in their dedicated parking space, whilst also increasing the value of the property and even helping to attract new residents.
We believe that it is time the UK gets up to speed with their European counterparts and helps make EV charging simple, for everyone. Which is why ChargeGuru are delighted to offer the Zeplug solution to the UK.
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