Automotive Business Magazine – Q2 2026 – Digital edition - Magazine - Page 54
OPI N I O N
FLEET
Home charging
W
hether we like it or not,
technology is now an
inherent part of modern
life. From phones to
food and shopping to
socialising, technology
is an escapable part of
who we are.
The same is true for
business fleets, too. There has never
been a more important time than now
for fleets to embrace technology in all its
forms – although some have proven more
willing than others.
Of course, possibly the biggest of those
changes has been the switch to electric
vehicles (EVs) in all their forms. UK sales
of EVs were up 23.9% in 2025 and 2026,
and this shows no sign of letting up.
The majority of that EV growth of
course has come from fleet sales, with
the majority of car fleet managers
embracing EVs, and their van
counterparts still a little further behind
– although BEV van sales were up 36.2%
last year.
The ongoing transition to EVs means
that fleet managers have also had to
embrace technology like never before.
Having easy access to home charging is
a crucial part of reducing running costs
for fleet managers.
Fleets have the best infrastructure
to support EV development and that
transition to increased e-mobility.
Cost benefits
There are many benefits to providing
drivers with home charging facilities, but
the most obvious is probably cost.
The best home energy tariffs can
see electricity costs as low as 7p/kWh
compared to the most recent standard
variable tariff of 27.69p/kWh.
However, for public ultra-rapid
charging, that same price for a single
kWh can be as high as 85p. That's the
equivalent of a litre of unleaded costing
£1.43 or £17.16! So, the ratio difference
between the cheapest and most
54
AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
Q2 2026
expensive places
to recharge are
far, far greater
than with a
traditional ICE
vehicle.
While home
chargers and
electricity
tariffs shouldn’t
seemingly be a
required area
of expertise for
fleet managers,
they now need
to be.
Providing home
chargers to your
fleet drivers
is of crucial
importance.
Not only is the
upfront cost
of the chargers
quickly repaid
by the savings of
charging at home, but
there’s also the saved
employee downtime of not
using public chargers.
Put simply, a driver can leave
home every morning with a
100% state of charge and return
in the evening running on single
figures, knowing that they can
leave again the next day with a
fully charged car or van.
The alternative is downtime wasted
searching for a public charger and
waiting before and during the charge
itself – and possibly having to do the
same again at the end of a shift.
Not only is the cost of each charge at
a public charger itself higher, but as a
company, that reduced vehicle and driver
efficiency might mean that they do one
less job or site visit for each shift.
Over the course of a month, each of
those single lost visits soon add up and
eat into a fleet’s efficiency.
