Leading the charge – Lex Autolease sponsors GB EV Rally 2022

As well as power supplies and charging infrastructure at commercial depots, many commercial vehicles will be relying on public charging infrastructure as they travel throughout the day.

TESTING THE UK’S CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

This summer, Logistics UK Van Gold Partner, Lex Autolease, acted as the lead sponsor of the 2022 Great British EV Rally, which gave participants an opportunity to test and demonstrate the capability of the UK EV charging infrastructure. As part of the rally, 25 cars and 25 vans, all powered purely by electric, drove from John O’Groats to Lands End taking in 20 check points en route, covering over 1,200 miles and charging via the public infrastructure.

Among the vehicles entered by Team Lex Autolease was a Fiat eScudo van, kindly supplied by Guest Trucks. In this article, Andy Hill, Commercial Vehicle Manager at Lex Autolease, outlines his experiences of taking part.

SCOTLAND: AN EARLY ADOPTER OF RAPID CHARGERS

Scotland has invested heavily in the ChargePlace Scotland infrastructure and this was evident on the route down the A9 that the vans took. Nicknamed the “Electric Highway”, the A9 was awash with rapid chargers all of which were easy to find and most importantly reliable; even in the remote parts of the Highlands we were never very far from the next opportunity to top up the battery. Dundee Council deserves special mention as this was the stop over point at the end of day one and the city has installed a lot of kerbside chargers that pop up out of the pavement and deliver a slow overnight charge with free parking.

HIGHER DEMAND FOR EV CHARGERS IN ENGLAND

The charging experience was not much different once south of the border – distances between charging points are very good, although it’s fair to say there is a greater demand on them which resulted in a little bit of queuing from time to time. This I’m sure will improve over the coming months and years as demand grows and government and charging providers continue to invest in growing the infrastructure, although thought needs to be given to ensuring that the charging facilities are suitable for vans as well as cars. Things like height restrictions and small parking bays are sometimes a problem when trying to charge a van.

THREE KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE RALLY

There are three key learnings I found as a result of this event. Firstly route planning is very important to ensure that miles aren’t wasted and that there are charging opportunities. Secondly, little and often is the best way to avoid both the dreaded “range anxiety” and wasting too much time sat on a charger. It is better and more efficient from a time perspective to do several short high-speed charges keeping the charge level between 20% and 75% all the time. By doing this, each charge should take no longer than around 20 – 30 minutes. Thirdly, smooth driving really helps to preserve those precious electrons, read the road and drive to the conditions, avoiding harsh braking and acceleration and enjoying the ease of EV driving.

INFORMING FUTURE INVESTMENT DECISIONS

The feedback gained throughout the EV rally will be useful for operators considering investing in electric vehicles. Figures from Logistics UK’s Decarbonising Logistics: The journey to net zero report show that as from1 April 2022, there were 30,290 public EV chargepoints in place across the UK, of which 5,494 were rapid chargers.

With fast charging vital to meet the time pressures drivers face, and with the uptake of electric vehicles expected to rise in coming years, the expansion of the UK’s electric vehicle charging network will be crucial. In March 2022, the government published its EV infrastructure strategy, setting out its intentions to expand the charging network by 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030, with a minimum of 6,000 high-powered chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A-roads by 2035.

Denise Beedell, Public Policy Manager, Logistics UK, said: "While Logistics UK welcomes plans to increase the number of available chargepoints, particularly the increase of rapid charging, the business group has called on the government for commitments to ensure the public charging network can be used by commercial vehicles of all types and sizes (an issue also highlighted in Andy Hill’s findings). Public charge-points must be clearly signposted and designed to accommodate all types of vehicles, ensuring that there are sufficient large parking bays, with longer charging cables."

*www.logistics.org.uk/van

Published On: 06/10/2022 15:52:16

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