AN estimated 70 percent of LCV fleet drivers and 40 percent of fleet drivers overall do not have the ability to charge electric vehicles at or near their homes. This is seen as such a problem that it is severely limiting the potential growth of fleet-based EVs. By working with members and utilizing its data, The Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) is setting about mapping the areas where fleet drivers reside, so it can ascertain need for off-street charging.
AFP has selected data analytics consultancy Field Dynamics to harvest, cleanse and analyse data supplied AFP’s project team members from their fleets at postcode geographies. All information provided will be anonymised to avoid breaching GDPR regulations.
Charlie Gilbert, partner at Field Dynamics, said they will develop a methodology to compare fleet footprint data with information about on- and off-street households to provide a view of which fleet drivers are in local authorities where there is high kerbside charging demand.
“The online map we then construct will be public facing and available for everyone to query and interrogate.”
The online resource, expected to be launched at the end of Q1, will show where fleet drivers reside who need kerbside charging, generally because of living in a property with no drive, meaning private charging cannot be installed.
Paul Hollick, chair at the AFP, added: “We’re pleased to be able to appoint Field Dynamics to this project and start to move forward with construction of the map, which we aim to promote to central and local government, charging providers, power companies and others. Initially, we expect to use data from AFP major fleets operating EVs totalling about 160,000 drivers but have also issued a general data call from any businesses across the country that might be able to contribute.
Every day we are hearing from fleets, especially van fleets, that want to speed up the electrification of their operations but are being hampered by the problem of charging for drivers who do not have off-road parking or any other access to a charger. This is generally thought to be about 40% of drivers across all fleets but, when it comes to light commercial vehicles, we believe the figure to be nearer 70%. That means good availability of kerbside charging is essential if van electrification is going to be a success.”
Fleet operators interested in contributing data to the AFP project should visit https://ev-hub.theafp.co.uk/ev-kerbside-charging/ to indicate their interest and a member of the AFP will call them to discuss how the process works.
See: AFP Calls For Fleet Data To Build National Kerbside EV Charging Map
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