The Cost Of EV Charging Stations For Business

Could your business benefit from installing EV Chargers?

The UK government have set out plans to increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads and have declared the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles to be banned by 2040.

There is already high demand for EVs with the market growing 19% in 2018, and now more than 1 million EVs expected to be in use by 2020.

However, there are currently only around 16,500 charging points in the UK, but to match the growth in EVs on our roads, an additional 80,000 charging stations need to be installed within the next year.

Often people assume that installing EV charging stations has to be expensive, but we’ve put together some financial benefits, costs and government schemes for businesses to use to help them understand the financial impact of installing electric vehicle chargers in their business:

FINANCIAL BENEFITS FOR BUSINESSES

Whether you’re installing workplace or destination charging stations, there are lots of benefits that EV chargepoints can offer your business

DESTINATION CHARGING

Drive traffic and new custom to your business

• By installing destination charging points at your business, you can attract EV drivers looking to stop off and charge their vehicles as well as increasing their visit duration
• Smartphone apps show nearby locations of EV chargepoints which will increase brand awareness, bringing more people to your business and creating customers

Generate revenue through selling electricity

• You could generate additional revenue for your business by selling electricity to EV drivers
• Businesses can retain a profit on what the EV driver pays to charge their vehicle

WORKPLACE CHARGING

Save on fleet vehicle costs

• Businesses can reduce employee Benefit in Kind tax by up to 86% for company vehicles.

Save on fuel costs for fleet vehicles

• By using an EV fleet, businesses could make savings of 6p or more per mile with rising petrol and diesel costs. Battery EVs are on average 22% cheaper to service than petrol or diesel cars, according to data from Fleet Assist.

More benefits for employees

• Installing EV workplace charging is a cost-effective way to retain and support employees
• Your employees could save up to £1000 a year in fuel costs

Although each project will be different, as an investment with a good level of utilisation you could get a return on your investment of between 27% and 88%*

COST OF EV CHARGING POINTS

On average, the cost of a commercial EV charge point is typically between £1,000 and £2,500 +VAT, depending on the charger model and the communications required. On top of this will be the install charges which include cabling, fixings and foundation costs.

This can vary depending on where you want your chargepoint and how far it is from a point of connection to the electricity source.

Once you have paid for the installation, in many cases there are annual running costs and warranty extensions for the charger. Again, these vary depending on the charger type and the management model you adopt, which you can discuss with the supplier.

These costs are normally paid based on the charge point usage but could be around £250 per charger per year in data fees and/or time.

FUNDING OPTIONS FOR BUSINESSES

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) offers a Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) to support businesses with the upfront costs to purchase and install new workplace charging stations.  This grant can be used to reduce the costs by up to 75% (capped at £500 per socket) and up to 20 charging stations can be claimed on the scheme (20 single or 10 double).

Eligibility for funding:

• You must have off street parking which is used by your business
• Your business must be able to clarify a need to install a charger
• You must have an EV installed by an OZEV approved workplace charger supplier
  

  

For more information on EV charging, visit our EV Charging page or contact us today.

 

*Based on Yu Energy’s own assessment of an installation of either 4 x 7kw or 4 x 22kw chargers achieving a 15% utilisation and charging users 30p per kw. Assumes no distribution network reinforcement is required and the units are managed by Yu Energy and electricity is also supplied by Yu Energy over 15 years. As each project is very different, please contact Yu Energy to discuss your specific requirements.