Do I need DC rapid chargers?

Rarely on a workplace, hotel or fleet-depot site. DC makes sense when dwell time is short (30 min or less) and turnover is high. For long-dwell use cases, AC at 7–22 kW delivers a full charge overnight at a fraction of the cost and grid load.

How many sockets do I need?

Less than you think, if load management is in place. A site with 50 staff EVs typically needs 20–25 AC sockets with smart sharing, not 50. Utilisation patterns make full simultaneous use vanishingly rare.

Can I add chargers later?

Yes, if the first phase leaves switchgear headroom and duct routes. We design every install with a 'next-phase' capacity baked in.

Will I need a grid upgrade?

Often no, if load management is used and dwell-time analysis is honest. Sites needing >300 kW of simultaneous charging usually do need DNO involvement; we engage early to compress the timeline.

How long does DNO approval take?

G98 (single charger up to ~7 kW per phase) is near-immediate. G99 (larger or aggregated installs) takes 8–16 weeks. We submit early and design phased rollouts around the timeline.

Does EV charging pay back?

On enablement (fleet fuel savings, staff retention, OZEV grant) — yes, comfortably. On charging revenue alone — only if utilisation is consistently above ~4 hours/day per bay. Both stories matter; one is usually enough to fund the project.

What about the OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme?

£350 per socket, up to 40 sockets per site, for businesses and charities. We handle the application as part of the build. The grant is locked in before commercial commitment.

Can solar make charging free?

Not free, but close. Integrated on-site solar can drive the marginal cost of a charged kWh from ~25p (grid) to ~5p (own generation). Combined with a battery, you can largely de-couple from import tariffs.

Row of commercial EV chargers at twilight

Solution · Commercial EV Charging

Commercial EV charging — designed for the duty cycle, not the spec sheet.

Fleet, workplace and visitor charging engineered around dwell time, grid capacity and integrated on-site generation.

Charger duty cycles

2–3×

Avg utilisation lift

Often

DNO upgrade avoided

In short

Commercial EV charging fails when it's specified by socket count instead of by duty cycle. The right design starts with how long vehicles dwell, what they need topped up, and what grid capacity is actually available. Get those three right and you avoid the most common (and most expensive) outcomes: tripped feeders, abandoned chargers and a DNO upgrade bill larger than the installation.

Jump to what matters to you:Energy Director → Grid & load mgmt CFO → Commercial impact Operations → Fleet & dwell time

Definition

What Commercial EV Charging actually is

It is

On-site electric vehicle charging infrastructure — AC (7–22 kW) for dwell-time charging or DC (25–350 kW) for rapid top-up — designed around the duty cycle of the vehicles using it and the available grid capacity at the site.

It is not

A retail commodity. The same '22 kW dual socket' deployed at a logistics hub and a hotel car park will fail differently. The hardware is the easy bit; the design is everything.

AC charging: Slower (7–22 kW), uses the vehicle's onboard charger. Best for long dwell times: workplace, hotel, overnight fleet.
DC rapid charging: 50–350 kW, bypasses the onboard charger. Best for short dwell times: forecourt, in-route top-up.
Dwell time: How long a vehicle is parked at the charger. Drives the AC vs DC decision and the per-bay power rating.
DNO connection: Permission and physical capacity from the regional Distribution Network Operator. Often the rate-limiting step for any rollout above ~100 kW.
Load management: Smart software that dynamically allocates available grid capacity across multiple chargers to prevent overload.
OZEV: Office for Zero Emission Vehicles — administers the Workplace Charging Scheme grant (£350 per socket, up to 40 sockets per site).

Mechanics

How it works

Six checkpoints from data to commissioning. Scroll to step through each one.

Step 1 of 5

Duty cycle and dwell-time analysis

Step 01
Duty cycle and dwell-time analysis
We audit the vehicles — fleet, staff, visitors — and how long each dwells. A 14-hour overnight fleet needs different infrastructure to a 2-hour visitor car park, even at the same socket count.
Step 02
Grid capacity assessment
MPAN headroom check, DNO consultation, and any required G99 application. We find out what's available before specifying what's installed — not after.
Step 03
Load management layer
Dynamic load balancing redistributes available capacity across active chargers. Often allows 30–50% more sockets within the same grid headroom.
Step 04
Civils, installation and commissioning
Cable runs, foundations, bollards, signage, weatherproofing — sequenced around live operations. Commissioning includes back-office integration and tariff setup.
Step 05
Operation, billing and SLAs
Ongoing maintenance, uptime guarantees and back-office billing (staff, fleet, visitor). OCPP-compliant hardware keeps you portable between operators.

For the CFO

Commercial impact

EV charging is rarely a savings story — it's an enablement story. The commercial case is built on fleet transition cost, staff retention, lease incentives, visitor draw and (sometimes) revenue from public charging. Treating it as a cost-saving project sets the wrong KPI.

01
OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme provides £350 per socket (up to 40 sockets per site) — directly reducing capital cost.
02
Salary-sacrifice EV schemes for staff make on-site charging a retention and recruitment tool, not just a perk.
03
Fleet transition from diesel to electric saves £2,000–£5,000 per vehicle per year in fuel and maintenance — charging infrastructure is the enabler.

For operations

Operational impact

Charging hardware is reliable; charging deployments fail operationally for two reasons: insufficient grid capacity (chargers throttle or trip) and poor user experience (chargers locked, broken or out of service for weeks). Both are designable problems.

01
Dwell-time modelling typically shows AC 7–22 kW is right for 80%+ of commercial use cases — DC rapid is over-specified more often than under-specified.
02
Load management lets you install more sockets within existing grid headroom — often the difference between a 6-month project and a 2-year DNO upgrade.
03
OCPP-compliant hardware avoids vendor lock-in; back-office operator is replaceable.

The honest list

Risks — and how we de-risk them

Risk 01

Grid connection insufficient for rollout

Early DNO engagement; load management to fit within available capacity; phased rollout aligned to DNO upgrade timeline.

Risk 02

Chargers over-specified (DC where AC works)

Dwell-time analysis before hardware selection. AC handles long-dwell use cases at a fraction of the cost and grid load.

Risk 03

Vendor lock-in via proprietary back-office

OCPP-compliant hardware specified by default. Back-office operator can be switched without changing the chargers.

Risk 04

Underused chargers stranded on the bill

Utilisation forecast modelled before commitment. Load management allows over-allocation of sockets where utilisation is uneven.

Risk 05

Uptime falls and users lose trust

Proactive monitoring, 24-hour response SLA, and clearly contracted maintenance from day one.

Risk 06

OZEV grant lapses or eligibility changes

Applications submitted and locked in before commercial commitment. Project economics modelled with and without grant.

Funding

How it gets paid for

Four ways to fund the same physical asset. Pick the one that matches your balance sheet and your time horizon.

Option 01

CAPEX + OZEV grant

Capital outlay

Reduced by grant

Asset ownership

You

Best when

Fleet or workplace use, want to own infrastructure, can absorb capital.

Option 02

Asset Finance / lease

Capital outlay

Monthly

Asset ownership

You at term end

Best when

Want to spread capital, retain control, finance rate beats utilisation revenue.

Option 03

Charge-Point Operator (CPO) model

Capital outlay

Zero

Asset ownership

Third party

Best when

Public or semi-public use, want zero capital, willing to share charging revenue.

Option 04

Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS)

Capital outlay

Zero

Asset ownership

Nuvolt

Best when

Want charging bundled with solar + storage, single fixed unit rate, full management.

Site composition

One site, four charger duty cycles

Most failed EV projects use one charger spec for everything. Tap a zone to see what each duty cycle actually needs.

Duty cycle

Workplace

7–22 kW AC — staff dwell 6–9h, low simultaneity factor

Compared

How this stacks up against the alternatives

AC vs DC is not a hardware question — it's a duty-cycle question.

	AC 7–22 kW	DC 50–150 kW	DC ultra-rapid 150–350 kW
Best dwell time	3+ hours	30–60 min	10–20 min
Typical use case	Workplace, hotel, overnight fleet	Visitor / mid-stay	Forecourt / in-route
Cost per bay (installed)	£1k–£3k	£20k–£50k	£75k–£150k
Grid load per bay	Low	Medium	High
DNO upgrade likely?	Often no	Sometimes	Almost always
OZEV-eligible	Yes (sockets)	Limited	No

EV charging is the easiest part of any energy transition to get wrong — and the most visible. The right design starts before any hardware is chosen, ends with users who can rely on it, and quietly accommodates the next five years of fleet growth without another disruptive project.

Common questions