19 www.managedITmag.co.uk WORKPLACE Sweden, France and Norway). This year, 25% of respondents said they would prefer to charge at work, up from 14% in 2022 and 12% in 2021. Routledge added: “Workplace charging makes sense for many EV owners. Their EV gets them to work and then sits there all day doing nothing whilst its owner does the work. It’s a great time to charge, especially if you have no home charging available or your employer provides charge for free.” The survey also highlights growing concern about the public charging network. Almost three quarters (74%) of respondents believe there is not enough charging infrastructure, up from 62% in 2022, with 68% saying EV drivers have charger anxiety, up from 59% in 2022. More than half of EV drivers encounter broken public chargers (55%) or have to wait to use a public charger (58%) at least once in every five attempts to charge. “Workplace charging has the potential to provide a vastly different experience to that being endured by EV drivers at public locations,” said Routledge. “Employers can install EV charging by specifying more robust, but still affordable, fast charge points that typically supply between 7kW and 22kW, ideal for when vehicles can be parked and charging for a few hours during the working day. “Employers can design load balancing into their installation to protect their local power grid and optimise charging across multiple outlets. They are usually present on site to react to any technical issues and keep chargers operational. And they can organise access times and durations to best serve their workers’ EV charging needs. So, no queueing. It’s the opposite of charging anxiety. It’s charging calm, charging confidence.” Switching to EV Routledge adds that with one in three people (33%) planning to have a fully electric or plug-in hybrid EV as their next vehicle, businesses should think ahead. “When designing your workplace EV charging, don’t cater for today’s demand – think about tomorrow. Think about next year and beyond. There is a lot of advice and support available and grants to install charge points now and to prepare for future expansion,” she said. In the UK, the Government’s Workplace Charging Scheme offers grants of up to 75% of the total cost of the purchase and installation of EV charge points for staff or fleet use only, capped at a maximum of £350 per socket, for up to 40 sockets across all sites per employer. In addition, small-to-mediumsized businesses can get grants to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure in their car parks. The EV infrastructure grant covers up to 75% of the cost of installing the infrastructure needed for charge points to operate and for future charge points to be installed, as well as the cost of any chargepoints installed. There is a limit of £15,000 per grant. www.ctek.com/uk Employers can attract younger recruits by installing Electric Vehicle (EV) charging at their workplaces, says leading EV charging brand CTEK. A YouGov survey for the EV charging equipment provider reveals that in-workplace charging is the charging option most used by EV owners/drivers in the UK aged from 18 to 24 (40%). These younger drivers are also the second most likely age group of non-EV owning workers to be encouraged to switch to an EV by the availability of EV charging at their workplace – 61%, second only to 25 to 34-year-olds (63%). Cecilia Routledge, CTEK Global Director Energy and Facilities, said: “Workers aged 18 to 34 are a key pool of talent that many employers want to recruit and retain in the early stages of their careers. “Having the ability to charge their EVs at work is going to be particularly attractive to today’s and tomorrow’s younger EV drivers who, as a demographic, are less likely to have access to a home charger because of where they live, such as in an apartment block or other rental property. “Our YouGov survey found that almost twice as many 18 to 24-yearolds who have already switched to an EV would prefer to charge at home (35%) than usually do (18%), suggesting a gap in home charging availability. A business or other organisation with EV charging at the workplace is onto a winner as an employer of choice for young adult workers.” Charging at work CTEK’s annual YouGov EV study shows that demand for workplace charging is continuing to grow across all five European countries surveyed (the UK, Netherlands, CTEK survey highlights appeal of workplace EV charging for younger workers How EV charging can drive recruitment success Cecilia Routledge, CTEK’s Global Director Energy and Facilities
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=