How do you charge an electric car with no driveway?
Energy and Charging
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The Ultimate Guide to Charging
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A major barrier to driving an EV for many people in the UK can be their lack of a driveway or off-street parking at home to charge their electric car. According to research, around 32% of UK households don’t have access to off-street parking at home for at least one car or van.
Whether that’s people living in homes with no driveways, in apartments or flats without allocated parking spaces, or in rented homes when permission to install a charger at home hasn’t been granted, it’s a common misconception that this means you can’t have an electric car.
The good news is that there are a variety of different ways to charge an electric car even if you don’t have a driveway. So, whether you want to drive an EV for personal use or have an electric company car, you can find charging options that work for your lifestyle.
In this guide, we outline the different ways in which you can charge an electric car with no driveway.
EV home charging with no driveway
Even if you don’t have a driveway, there might still be some options to charge an electric car at home, depending on your individual circumstances and where you live.
EV home charging for flats and apartments
If you live in an apartment or flat that has a dedicated area for residential parking, there might be the option of having one or more EV chargers installed in your parking area, with the permission of the landlord (if renting) or the building’s owner or management company.
If you have a specific allocated parking space that only you use, it can often be more straightforward to arrange a dedicated charging point to be installed there. Depending on the situation, the charger can sometimes be connected to the individual resident’s electricity meter, or a separate billing method can be set up when that’s not possible.
As this kind of charger installation may require more work to be done to get power to the right place when compared with a home installation, the costs can be higher. But there is currently a government-backed grant available to flat renters or owners to help with the cost of the EV charger and installation.
In situations where there are no dedicated spaces for individual residents, but still a car parking area, EV charger installations are often possible with the agreement of whoever owns the land. Different scenarios here could include:
- Several residents choose to band together to organise this so that any EV chargers installed can be used communally as required.
- Some landlords may pay for chargers to be installed so that tenants can charge their vehicles when at home.
It’s becoming more and more desirable to have residential EV charging facilities as the number of people driving EVs increases, which means that landlords, building management companies and flat owners who install them can potentially make the property much more appealing in the future for residents too.
EV home on-street charging
For electric car drivers who don’t have a driveway and have to park on the street, there are also some potential options for EV charging very close to home. These may include:
- The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme – where local authorities arrange the installation of EV chargers on residential streets, usually either in existing lampposts or new bollards.
- A through-pavement scheme – with trials currently being run by several councils across the UK, where charging cables can safely be run from a house to a car parked next to the pavement kerb. If this trial is successful, this form of charging could quickly become available in other areas of the UK too.
Workplace charging for your electric car
One alternative for EV drivers without a driveway at home is to look into workplace charging for their electric car, assuming they have a set place of work that they regularly attend, which has dedicated parking for staff on the premises.
Some workplaces may already offer this, especially if they enable employees to lease an electric company car through them. If there are not currently any EV chargers at the workplace, employees can approach their employer to ask if they can be installed.
There is currently a grant available to eligible employers for the installation of up to 40 EV charge points at a workplace, which will cover a significant part of the cost.
Aside from this, employers can also benefit from installing workplace EV chargers in other ways, including:
- Offering workplace EV charging is a benefit which can help with attracting and retaining great employees
- It can help the business to meet CSR and environmental targets
- It can help demonstrate company values and ethos
- Generating revenue for the business, by setting a rate for using the chargers. Most employers can find a balance for this by setting a low rate for employees and a higher rate for visitors or even offering workplace charging for other businesses in the area to use at a certain rate. Smart charge points can be installed that can enable this kind of differentiation between users.
Public charging for EVs
There are now more than 68,000 public EV charging points across the UK, in more than 35,000 locations.
These can come in a range of different settings and contexts, such as:
- Supermarkets
- Public car parks in town and city centres
- Service stations or larger petrol stations
- Retail parks
- Hotel, restaurant or pub car parks
- On-street charge points in residential areas
While using the public charging network is usually more expensive than charging only at home, charging in public locations can be very convenient if it’s a place you would be visiting anyway, especially if a home charger isn’t an option.
Find out more in our ultimate guide to electric car charging.
Sharing an EV charger with family, friends or neighbours
While working out charging times that are convenient for everyone involved can sometimes take a bit of thought, it can work out very well for those without a driveway at home to use the EV home charger of local family members, friends or neighbours who also drive an electric car and do have off-street parking with a charge point installed.
Can I run a charging cable from my home to my electric car parked on the street?
Running a cable from your home to your EV parked on the street isn’t necessarily technically illegal, but is something that is fraught with potential problems and it’s recommended not to take the risk.
For example, if the cable were to trip someone up in the street, you might be found legally responsible for this.
Or, if you are using a cable through an open window or door into your home that is plugged into a standard 3-pin socket inside, this could also have security and fire risks. It also takes a long time to charge the vehicle, as the amount of power being drawn is much lower than most dedicated home or public EV chargers.
As we’ve covered in this article, there are several potential options for charging an electric car when you don’t have a driveway, so it’s no longer something that should automatically stop you from making the switch to an EV.
Making sure that you are familiar with the public EV charging locations in your area, the availability of on-street charging in your location or the possibility of
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