The increasing adoption of EVs in the UK presents big opportunities for electrical installers to increase work in this area or diversify into new markets, as Craig Slater, UK Sales Manager at CTEK explains.
You may have seen in the media that whilst new UK car registrations fell 1.6% year-on-year in October, plug-in electric cars saw a growth rate of 172% for the same period, which is a market share of 12%.
A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that EVs will account for 7% of global new-car sales by 2023. With every new EV registration, there’s an increased demand for charge points, either as a new domestic installation or as part of a communal charging solution that may need to be extended to cope with additional demand. As more EVs drive on our roads, charging points will be increasingly required at home and in public places.
Most, if not all, EV owners will want to have some sort of charge point installed in their home. Whether they live in a privately owned property or a rented one, they can claim support of up to £350 off the cost of purchasing and installing a home charging point via the Government-funded Homecharge Scheme.
OLEV also offers a separate Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) grant which can be claimed by any business, charity or public authority and provides up to £350 off the cost of purchasing and installing workplace charging points (up to 40 sockets).
Making the move into EV charge point installation, at a time when demand for this type of service continues to rise exponentially, could prove to be a shrewd move for electrical installers.
Clive Hutchinson, electrician and founder of Plug + Go, started installing EV charge points two years ago and hasn’t looked back since. He says: “As EV adoption has increased and the technology continues to develop, I could see the opportunity to grow my business.
“As a relatively early adopter, I’ve been able to build up a reputation locally as a specialist in this field. EV installations are normally straightforward to carry out, as they don’t throw up many unexpected issues once surveyed. We continue to see a steady increase in enquiries, and it’s a growing part of our business.”
Know your stuff
When installing EV charging points it’s important to do your homework. Customers look to installers as the source of knowledge, so it pays to throw yourself in to learning all about charge point manufacturers and their units. At CTEK, for example, we offer the SKILLBASE training programme to educate electricians on our products and how to install with them.
Adding EV charge-point installation to your list of services presents some great opportunities for installations, even within your existing customer base. If you’re working on a new build project, you should consider offering EV charging as an additional option.
Whether you’re already an accredited OLEV installer or just considering expanding your service provision to include EV installation, the EV market offers opportunities aplenty.
Get more information about CTEK’s Skillbase Training programme by clicking here
