10:25 am, September 9, 2024
The UK’s public charging network has seen huge improvements over recent years, but there is still some way to go.
That is the verdict of Zapmap boss Melanie Shufflebotham, who believes that older ‘legacy chargers’ are largely to blame for reliability concerns.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast, Shufflebotham said that several charge providers are now operating at 99% reliability.
However, with a number of EV drivers still complaining about the state of the public charging network, she concedes there is still work to be done.
Speaking to podcast hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay, Shufflebotham said it is important for providers to listen to concerns from users.
She said: ‘We’ve had petrol and diesel cars for 100 years. People know what they’ve got to do. They understand it. They get it. It’s very simple.
‘I think there’s a certain amount of worry about it [switching to an EV] and the feeling that they don’t want to be pushed to do something they don’t want to do.
‘The reality is that some people have bad experiences when going to charge points and they tell people about it.
‘We track all the charge point sessions every month. Every month there are two million successful charge point sessions across the network. There will be some which are not successful.
‘I think when you actually talk to drivers who have willingly bought an electric car, they’ve thought about it, they planned it, there are very few issues.
‘I think for people who are being slightly pushed into it, or are maybe having to go a lot of miles all the time, maybe it’s not not such a good experience. Of course, some people do have a bad experience.
‘You’ve got to listen to that. It’s got to be improved.’
Since launching around a decade ago, Zapmap has become a must-have tool for any EV driver negotiating the UK’s charging network.
The charger locator service allows users to locate their nearest charger, while also telling them how busy it is and whether it is working as it should.
The app also tracks data, which can help to make vital improvements to the network.
Shufflebotham added: ‘The other thing that we track is reliability at Zapmap – so in a 24-hour period, what percentage of charges are out of service?
‘When we looked at that two, three, four years ago, it was about 7%. That’s too high. When we’re looking at it now, it’s down to about 3% on average. Some of the networks are genuinely at 99% but some of them are not.
‘You’ve also got to remember, there’s all these legacy chargers which were installed, maybe five or ten years ago and they are sort of letting the side down, if you like.
‘Some people still have challenges, but it really is getting better. When I talk to the network operators, it is their number one thing. They want to have a reliable service.
‘They want to be able to provide, they want a great brand, they want EV drivers to love them. I think that it’s very much an improving process.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by JATO, sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
A full list of the stories discussed on this week’s episode can be found here.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
