A new way of identifying where EV infrastructure is needed

A new report published by Vauxhall and Cenex suggests that we should be measuring the success of our EV infrastructure roll out in a different way. 

It proposes that the current metrics we use, such as the total number of changepoints, the number of changepoints per 100,000 people and the number of electric cars per changepoint are, essentially irrelevant. 

The report examines how those numbers measure up as useful metrics, by considering their Relevance, Actionability, Scalability and Measurability. All three are certainly measurable but how do they hold up otherwise? The report states:

The number of chargepoints implies that more chargepoints are better. This is not always the case, so this is not actionable nor scalable. The required energy to charge EVs in an area can be met in different ways: a few high- powered chargepoints or a lot of lower-powered chargepoints.

The ratio of chargepoints per 100,000 people improves on this because it takes into account a level of demand due to population size. That said, it assumes that vehicle ownership is equal across the country, which means it is only partially scalable. In reality, an area with greater EV adoption will need more charging capacity than an area with lower uptake.

The ratio of EVs per chargepoint is perhaps the most widely reported metric. This improves on the previous two because it now accounts for vehicle ownership, making it scalable. However, this still assumes that reliance on public charging is uniform across the country. Furthermore, there is no agreed ratio against which to benchmark performance, so this is still not actionable.

As such, three new metrics by which to measure our EV infrastructure have been suggested, which take into account the requirements of different drivers and different locations: Near Home Charging, Destination Charging and Journey Charging.

To make these measurable, a combination of Cenex and public datasets within the National EV Insights and Support (NEVIS) service were used to create a Near Home Charging Index, a Journey Charging Index and the Destination Charging Ratio.

Much more information on the methodology can be found here.

Using these new metrics to analyse current data, the research  found that, on average, 19% of all households who need Home Charging are close to a public chargepoint. Across Great Britain, supply is a little ahead of demand, although regional disparities continue to exist. For example, Camden nearly has the capacity it needs for projected levels of local EV ownership in 2040.

Using the Journey Charging metric, it concluded that overall, the supply of journey charging for UK’s roads is ahead of demand, although there is still significant variation between roads.

James Taylor, Managing Director, Vauxhall, said: ‘Effectively tracking the progress we are making towards a practical future for electric vehicles is key to determining how far we have come, and in identifying what steps we need to take next to ensure that progress continues at pace.

‘Partnering with Cenex to produce this report has been valuable in demonstrating how much needs to be done to improve the current metrics we use, to more accurately reflect the true progress being made and that still needs to be made throughout the country. This data highlights how broad the UK’s current target of 300,000 public chargepoints by 2030 is and how useful a more nuanced and detailed picture is.’

Chris Rimmer, Head of Policy, Strategy and Implementation, Cenex, added:’A key finding from the research is that metrics must be relevant, actionable, scalable and measurable. Applying this to the three ways chargepoints are used allows us to assess whether we are getting the right chargepoints of the right power into the right places.’

The full report can be found here.