EV drivers highlight disparity between Scotland and England

Electric vehicle (EV) drivers have told Ofgem of the “significantly different” charging experiences between Scotland and other areas of Great Britain.

Ofgem undertook qualitative research in October last year of a small number of EV drivers across Britain to understand the current situation for them, what they need, and what they are trying to achieve.

The survey forms part of the energy regulator’s work on exploring and understanding the role of consumers in decarbonising the energy system.

Among the research’s key findings was the disparity of experiences between Scottish EV drivers and those in England. Specifically, there is a greater variety of charge point operators and processes in Britain outside of Scotland and respondents reported a number of barriers associated with this.

For example, ChargePlace Scotland is a Scottish government owned and operated network. Users pay £20 a year membership which gets them free charging at the majority of its 1,800 charge points.

Although other operators are present in Scotland, there is a much wider variety in England leading to drivers having to sign up to several networks and use multiple RFID cards.

One driver said they had between 10-15 apps to use various networks, as well as multiple RFID cards.

Responding to the research Chris Russell, head of Ovo Drive, suggested the Scottish system may not currently provide the best incentives for private networks to invest.

Speaking to Utility Week, he said: “In Scotland the charger rollout has been accelerated by investment from the Scottish government in the ChargePlace network, which led to a significant number of chargers being rolled out geographically under the same scheme.

“From an EV driver perspective ChargePlace has been great as a unified, very low-cost network, however to meet the growing demand from EV drivers the private networks will need to be encouraged to invest. To do so they will need confidence that there is a fair return available on that investment.”

Elsewhere, the report highlighted how despite owning an EV, few participants had made changes to how they use energy at home or what they look for in an energy deal. This suggests it cannot be assumed that EV drivers will also adopt changes associated with energy.

Most said they charge their car as soon as they are home and that they seek reassurance their car has actually started charging.

This means charging is more likely to take place when demand is highest and less likely to be of renewable sources. Customers will need to be reassured to have confidence to charge their car at off-peak times.

Russell further explained: “Historically a lot of drivers that have entered the EV sector have been quite enthusiastic, they’ve done their research, they’ve probably had to put a lot of effort into getting into EVs because it wasn’t mainstream. They therefore understand smart charging.

“If we start seeing more business users enter the market who made the decision for financial reasons rather than environment or technological reasons, it’s no surprise they don’t have the same understanding of what the implications are for their energy tariff.

“Energy suppliers need to be able to identify those customers, spotting where their electricity consumption has significantly increased since they bought an EV and show them how they may be able to do that in more cost-effective way.”

Furthermore, participants were found to be unfamiliar with the concept of smart charging. While they do not need to know about the process in detail, Ofgem said the sector needs to be “mindful of avoiding jargon” to encourage uptake.

Russell added: “Suppliers need to work hard to gain trust, to give customers confidence that their EV will be fully charged when they get up in the morning.

“They need to educate customers that smart charging is to optimise costs and minimise carbon intensity. That maturity and education will come but I do think suppliers have to play a strong role in that.”

Also responding to the report was Gill Nowell, director at EV Association England, who said: “To a certain degree, the Ofgem report confirms what we already know – there is a need for clear and consistent communications to support our mass transition to zero tailpipe emission transport.

“Consumers need to have the knowledge and information at hand to confidently buy or lease an electric car (new or secondhand), have their smart charger installed, or be comfortable with alternative options for charging their car, whether that be through community-based charging, on-street, in their local supermarket car park or charging hub.”