The number of electric cars on UK roads is growing rapidly with a 40% increase in new battery-powered vehicles registered in 2022 compared to the year before.
Before the end of the decade, it’s expected that nearly a quarter of all vehicles will be EVs - some eight million.
This growth presents huge challenges for the UK’s road infrastructure. Charging points are needed up and down road networks, as well as on people’s driveways to charge overnight. In fact, Parkingeye suggests car park operators should aim for 20% of all spaces offering EV charging facilities.
It also presents opportunities too. For car park owners, the question is whether to install EV parking bays now or wait until demand gets even higher. There are pros and cons to both, but either way, the benefits of installing electric charging bays in your car park are clear.
Attract more customers now
Due to infrastructure struggling to keep up with demand, many EV drivers are willing to travel to reach an available charging point. This presents a great opportunity for shopping outlets and other venues to offer EV parking - even for free - to get potential shoppers into their areas whilst they wait for their vehicles to add enough miles to complete their journeys
We will likely see more investment into motorway service stations as a result to offer EV drivers more things to do (and spend their money on) whilst killing time.
Get ahead of the trend
For some car parks, it just won’t be feasible or financially viable to transform spaces into EV charging bays. For example, small inner-city parking lots where customers typically park for 30 minutes and then leave again won’t be adding too much value.
However, any large parking area, such as a multi-story, out-of-town shopping centre or even supermarket and cinema car parks would all benefit from investing in technology sooner rather than later.
Additional revenue stream
All businesses love new revenue streams, and electric vehicle charging is a fantastic opportunity for car park owners to make even more money from the cars parked on their land.
EV charging point operators can install and manage the day-to-day running of the infrastructure whilst the car park owners takes a cut of the revenue.
What’s more, the UK government is also offering grants of up to £500 for each parking space where charging infrastructure is installed!