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Last month we attended the Cenex Expo 2024 and were pleased to see conversations framed around the benefits and opportunities flowing from the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). While there are undoubtedly still challenges ahead, innovative solutions and collaborations are emerging to make EV ownership more accessible.
One area in which the transition to EVs faces huge challenges is cost – there is, fairly, a perception that an EV is more expensive than a petrol or diesel car. The headline figures show a clear difference in the up-front purchase costs, and anyone without off-street parking is then hit with a “pavement tax”, paying a higher rate to use public charge points if they are unable to benefit from cheap at-home charging. It is no surprise that studies show 84% of EVs sold in the UK are to individuals with driveways.
Cenex celebrated some success stories from industry participants who are tackling these challenges:
JOLT is transforming the EV charging landscape with its innovative charging units, equipped with 75-inch digital advertising screens. The advertising screens bring in an additional revenue stream, allowing JOLT to provide 7kWh of free charging daily, equivalent to about 30 miles of range. JOLT offers an exciting proposition for local councils, partnering with them to offer discounted charging in strategic locations, combined with opportunities for the councils to use the screens for public messaging.
Vauxhall has been hitting the headlines recently with the reintroduction of the Frontera. In an industry first, Vauxhall has applied the same list price to both electric and petrol-powered models, making it easier for consumers to choose EVs without compromising on practicality or cost.
As well as battling to bring down the up-front cost, Vauxhall is also looking to challenge the pavement tax: Vauxhall’s Electric Streets of Britain campaign aims to support the 40% of UK households without off-street parking by ensuring they have access to convenient on-street charge points. Partnering with local councils and other stakeholders, Vauxhall has gathered data to create a heatmap visualizing the demand for on-street charging across the UK. Vauxhall has also been collaborating with Cenex to evaluate the effectiveness of common metrics used to measure the success of electrification in the UK to determine better ways to measure UK charging infrastructure.
Conclusion
One of the key themes coming out of Cenex is the need for the whole ecosystem to come together to make the Net Zero transition happen. The challenges facing EV ownership can only be tackled through local councils, charge point providers and vehicle manufacturers working together to implement innovative and collaborative solutions.
This is a theme that we at Burges Salmon have seen before, for example having advised FirstGroup last year in relation to their pilot project (now a long-term success) which involved partnering with third party organisations to increase EV charging options for fleets by offering access to charge points in FirstGroup bus depots around the country, improving operational flexibility for the fleets while also allowing FirstGroup to commercialise its unused charging capacity.
If you would like to discuss EV projects, including collaboration opportunities, please contact Charlotte Robinson or Chris Lewis.
“When it comes to the future of Britain’s roads, we want to build up confidence and knock down the barriers of perception. Because we need the public to share our conviction that this is a future they can believe in. I see electric and self driving vehicles in a very simple way – more opportunity, different energy.”
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