Charging downtime is a major cost for electric van fleets

The neighbourhood community charging business estimates that time lost to charging typically costs £17,000 per year per vehicle, or around 260 non-productive hours across a 12-month period to charge while on shift.Co Charger has now expanded its offering to cater for return-to-home businesses with a focus on electric vans to address the problem.

Joel Teague, Co Charger chief executive, said the move into creating something specifically catered to fleets was a natural development after the business noted the increasing number of business vehicles using its current network of 6,000 hosts.The Co Charger concept matches EV drivers with a neighbourhood host who rents out their home charger for a fee during slots convenient for them. This enables drivers to charge their vehicles within walking distance of their home without having to rely on public infrastructure.

He said: “For many fleet operators, the cost of electricity is not the issue.Instead, the significant financial burden comes from the time lost while charging, which has become a significant barrier to electrification, particularly in light commercial fleets.”

Co Charger’s 6,000-strong network has increased from 4,500 last year and Teague is planning to grow this number significantly in the coming years with partnerships, with the overall aim to reach 16,000 locations.Teague emphasises that Co Charger is not a complete solution but an effective way to ‘shrink the problem’ of charging access, making it easier for operators to manage their electrified fleets.

One of the unique aspects of Co Charger’s service is its pricing model. Co Charger hosts normally set their own charging rates, but for fleet clients, Co Charger negotiates a fixed rate of around 42p per kWh, offering fleet managers the certainty they need to plan their operations. The benefit to hosts is an increased volume of regular users.

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