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OZEV to release EV charging infrastructure guide for Local Authorities

The IET has been working with not-for-profit, independent, low carbon-transport consultants at Cenex to produce a guide to give Local Authority officers involved with EV charging projects access to the necessary information to make the right decisions when deploying infrastructure.

 

Introduction

The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) is aware that the public and private sectors must work alongside one another to ensure that the UK’s Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure network develops at the necessary pace to support the 2030 phase-out of sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

It recognises that Local Authorities have a unique role to play in providing charging infrastructure for their residents who do not have access to off-street parking. Meanwhile, councils will have their own fleets of vehicles to worry about electrifying. These two examples show the diversity in the types of EV charging projects that a Local Authority officer may need to manage; the guidance document seeks to focus on providing advice for these types of deployment that will be relevant to Local Authorities.

Structure and Content

The document is structured to cover the whole lifecycle of an EV charging project:

Fundamentals

It is recognised that there is, unfortunately, no standardised “EV charging infrastructure manager” role within councils. Using the same examples as before, a deployment for fleet vehicles at a depot may be the responsibility of an energy or fleet manger with little to no experience of EV charging. Alternatively, wider programmes to deploy public charging infrastructure (such as rapid charging hubs and/or on-street charging) across a whole city is likely to be handled by an officer for which EV charging is their full-time role. However, although some of these Local Authority officers may be considered “EV champions” and have relevant experience, others may have been thrust into the role with no prior knowledge of EV charging.

The fundamentals section, therefore, is written to bring all readers of the guide up to speed on the basics of EV charging. It explains the differences from AC to DC charging, Type 2 to CHAdeMO and “fast” and “rapid” charging. It also introduces more complex matters such as supplying power, chargepoint networks and relevant EV charging policy.

Charging Locations and Solutions

It is very difficult to predict what the balance of the different EV charging locations and solutions will look like once the dust has settled on the electric transport revolution. However, it would be a fairly safe bet to say that there will not be a single one-size-fits-all solution as we currently have with the internal combustion engine (ICE) petrol-station model.

In this section the locations are categorised into four types:

  • Long-stay - locations including residential and workplaces where vehicles are likely to be parked for a number of hours,
  • Short-stay – locations including tourist, leisure and/or retail destinations where vehicles are likely to be parked for a small number of hours,
  • Hub locations – locations which are dedicated to refuelling EVs, providing the fastest possible charge for as many different types of user as possible, and
  • On-route – locations which are dedicated to refuelling EVs, providing the fastest possible charges for those travelling into or through a region or area.

Different design solutions, from chargepoints integrated into street lighting to ultra-rapid DC chargepoints, are then allocated to one or more suitable location category. This demonstrates to the reader how different solutions can be used to serve different use cases.

EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy

The main purpose of the guide is to provide the reader with practically useful information when deploying EV chargepoints. Assisting with strategic decisions, such as what type of charging infrastructure a Local Authority should be deploying to meet a specific use case, is not within scope of the main objectives.

However, this section provides a list of probing questions for Local Authorities to ask themselves when developing a strategy or even to review when kicking off a certain project to ensure that it aligns with their wider strategic ambition. It also offers some of the opportunities and challenges associated with each of the four location categories introduced in the previous section.

Site Identification and Selection

In this section a process is recommended, with associated suggested ranking criteria, for those projects which have flexibility over where the infrastructure is deployed.

Site identification and selection process

In addition, templates for conducting desktop and on-location site surveys are provided to allow Local Authorities to gather information and subsequently assess the viability of deploying infrastructure at a certain location.

Preparation

This is the main section of the guide, covering the main important aspects of EV charging that must be considered prior to completing an installation:

  • Power – building on the introduction to supplying power to chargepoints in the “Fundamentals” section, the reader is guided through how to interact with their DNO for new or existing connections. Prompts are also given to give consideration to load management, on-site generation and storage and timed or profiled connections where relevant to deploy the infrastructure at least cost.
  • Installation Design – the specific requirements of EV charging installations such as earthing, civil works and best practice for parking layouts are discussed, with case studies, in this sub-section. Advice is also given on how to ensure public chargepoints are made accessible for disabled users. The subject of passive provision is also included.

Whilst for most Local Authority EV charging deployments an external supplier will complete the design and installation works, the content given here is invaluable for Local Authorities to become educated customers, allowing them to specify the right requirements and ask the right questions of their supplier.

  • Procurement – the topics of ownership models, business cases, funding mechanisms and contractual terms are covered to help Local Authorities make informed procurement decisions.

Deployment

As most of the in-depth content is already included in the “preparation” section, this section covers only the topics of commissioning, notifications and approvals that need to be done after a project has broken ground.

Operation

Covers all of the aspects relevant to the operational phase of an EV charging project’s lifecycle, such as payment systems, tariff structures and management. In reality, the information in this section needs to be understood whilst the project is still in the planning phase.

What’s next

Finally, the guidance turns to horizon scanning. This section looks at new innovative technologies such as Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and wireless charging and acknowledges that whilst they may not be ready for mass-market deployments, this may change in the coming years and therefore Local Authorities may need to keep up to date with progress in developing mature solutions.

Next steps

The guide is due to go to public industry consultation for a period of three weeks until 15 November. It will then be edited into its final digital format, which will be made available online to all Local Authorities, in early 2022.

All feedback received through the public consultation, especially from those with industry expertise and experience, is welcomed to ensure that the guidance provided to Local Authorities is accurate, useful and comprehensive.