Fleet EV charging: depot chargers, installation costs and the £500 grant

Fleet EV charging: key facts for 2026

Fleet EV charging solutions: depot, workplace, home and destination

Most fleets end up with a mix. The right mix depends on where vehicles park overnight, how far they go and how long they sit still.

For staff and visitor charging at an ordinary business site, see business EV charging. This page is about running a fleet.

Depot EV charging: how much power do you actually need?

Start with the vehicles, not the chargers. The number that matters is energy per vehicle per day, and how long each vehicle is parked to take it on. Here's the method, with made-up inputs to show how it works:

Illustration only: the mileage, consumption and dwell time are assumptions, not typical figures. Use your own telematics and the vehicle maker's data. Cold weather, payload and motorway driving all increase energy use.

Step 7 is why load management matters so much for fleets. Smart software spreads the charging across the night, so twenty vans can be full by 6am on roughly half the capacity they'd need if they all charged flat out at once. That's often the difference between using your existing supply and paying for an upgrade.

AC or DC for fleets?

GOV.UK's commercial chargepoint specification sorts chargers into output classes. For fleets, the decision comes down to dwell time:

• Standard and fast AC (above 3.5kW up to 7kW, and above 7kW up to 23kW): overnight depot charging and pool cars. Lowest cost per socket and the least strain on your supply.
• Semi-rapid DC (above 22kW up to 50kW): vehicles that run double shifts or return mid-day for a top-up.
• Rapid DC (above 50kW up to 62.5kW): short turnarounds, taxis, and vehicles that can't wait.

Most depots are mostly AC with a handful of DC units for the exceptions. Every chargepoint funded by the Workplace Charging Scheme must meet the specification and come with an on-site 3-year warranty on parts and installation.

Grid capacity, load management and DNO applications

The biggest swing in a fleet charging project is the grid connection. Before anyone orders a charger, find out:

• Your maximum import capacity (in kVA), from your supply contract or the network operator.
• Your existing peak demand, from 12 months of half-hourly data.
• The headroom between the two, at the times vehicles will be charging. A depot that's busy by day often has plenty of spare capacity overnight.

If the headroom isn't enough, even with load management, you'll need a bigger connection from your distribution network operator (DNO). The rules on who pays changed in 2023:

Source: National Grid Electricity Distribution's summary of Ofgem's Access Significant Code Review changes. Ask your DNO how it applies to your application.

• Apply early. The timescale for a connection upgrade is set by the DNO, not your installer. It's often the longest lead time in the whole project.
• Phase it. Duct and cable for the full fleet now, and add chargers as vehicles arrive. Digging up the yard twice costs more than oversizing the ducts once.
• Vehicle-to-grid. Chargers that can export power count as generation and need G98 or G99 approval. See our G99 application guide.

Commercial EV charger cost: what a fleet depot pays for

There's no official national price series for commercial EV charger installation, so treat any headline "per charger" price with caution. The cost of a depot scheme is driven by:

• Charger mix: AC posts cost far less per socket than DC units, and need far less supply.
• Groundworks: trenching across yards, ducting, bases, bollards and bay marking. Distance from the switchroom can cost more than the chargers.
• Electrical infrastructure: sub-mains, distribution boards, load management hardware, and any DNO connection upgrade.
• Software: back-office platform for scheduling, per-vehicle reporting and driver reimbursement, usually a monthly fee per charger.
• Maintenance: service contracts after the warranty, with uptime and response commitments that match your operation.

How the grant works on a depot (illustration)

The Workplace Charging Scheme pays up to £500 per socket, capped at 75% of eligible costs including VAT, for up to 40 sockets across all your sites. On a 20-socket depot, that's up to £10,000, as long as eligible costs are at least £13,334 (so that £10,000 is no more than 75%). On 40 sockets it reaches the £20,000 maximum. Get the voucher in place before installation: chargers must be installed and the grant claimed within 180 days of its issue date.

Software and maintenance fees are ongoing costs that the grant doesn't cover, so get them written into the quote. For home charger prices, see EV charger costs.

Fleet EV charging grants and tax: what's on the table in 2026

What closed: The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets and the commercial landlord chargepoint grant both closed to applications on 31 March 2026. The full detail on the one open grant is in our Workplace Charging Scheme guide. For other funding, see business energy grants. Check tax points with your accountant.

Home charging for fleet drivers

For vans and cars that go home with the driver, home charging is usually the cheapest energy a fleet can buy. Three things to set up:

• The charger. The Workplace Charging Scheme lets employers install chargepoints at employees' homes for company vehicles, where the employee can't charge at work. You'll need an evidence letter and a chargepoint approved for the scheme.
• Metering and reporting. A networked home charger can report the energy used by the company vehicle, separately from the household's, so you reimburse the right amount.
• Reimbursement. HMRC's advisory electricity rate for fully electric company cars is 7p a mile on a home charger and 15p a mile on a public charger, from 1 September 2026. HMRC reviews it quarterly, so check the current rate.

Drivers who don't have off-street parking need depot or workplace charging instead, or a public charging card. Plan for them from the start.

Destination charging: hotels, retail and visitor sites

Destination charging is charging that customers use while they stay, shop or eat. It brings in visitors, and it's a different rulebook from fleet charging:

• Grant eligibility. Under the Workplace Charging Scheme, a business's chargepoints can only be used by its staff and fleet (local residents can use them outside office hours). Public authorities, charities and small accommodation businesses have no such restriction, so a small hotel or B&B can fund chargers guests use.
• Public charging rules. If the public can use the chargers, the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 apply. New public chargepoints of 8kW and above need contactless payment, unless the operator is a micro business. A workplace chargepoint used only by employees, contractors or visitors to the workplace isn't a public one.
• Pricing and software. Decide on a pence-per-kWh tariff, a free perk for customers, or a validated parking model, and who acts as the charge point operator.

For hotels, see hotel solar panels; for shops and retail parks, retail solar panels.

Run the depot on solar and batteries

A depot that charges vans is a large, predictable electricity user, which is exactly the load that makes solar pay back. The catch is timing: vans charge overnight and solar generates by day. Three ways to join them up:

• Daytime charging where you can. Pool cars, vehicles on split shifts and anything parked over lunch can soak up solar directly. Smart scheduling can prioritise them when the panels are generating.
• A battery. Store midday solar for the evening and overnight charging peak, and cut the demand on your grid connection. In England, storage where the power stored is mainly renewable is excluded from rateable value too. See commercial battery storage.
• Solar carports. Put panels over the bays you're already wiring for chargers. See solar carports.

Depot roofs are often big enough for a serious system. See warehouse solar panels and what a 50kW solar system costs. Designing solar, storage and chargers together means one survey, one set of groundworks and one conversation with the DNO.

Commercial EV charger installation: from enquiry to switch-on

1. Tell us about the fleet: vehicles, daily mileage, shift patterns, where they park and your supply.
2. Survey: supply capacity, half-hourly data, cable routes, groundworks and bay layout.
3. Design and quote: charger mix, load management, software, phasing, the grant deduction and any DNO application.
4. DNO application if more capacity is needed. Start this first: it usually sets the timetable.
5. Workplace Charging Scheme voucher before installation. You have 180 days from issue to install and claim.
6. Install and commission to BS 7671, with an Electrical Installation Certificate, then set up access, scheduling and reporting.

What to ask fleet charging installers

• How did you size the chargers: from our telematics, or from a rule of thumb?
• What's our import capacity, and how many vehicles can charge overnight with load management before we need an upgrade?
• Do we need a DNO application, who submits it, and what's the likely timescale?
• Will you duct and cable for the full fleet now, so later phases are just chargers?
• Is every chargepoint on the approved model list, and are you OZEV-authorised?
• What are the software, data and maintenance fees per charger, the uptime commitment and the contract length?
• Can the platform report energy per vehicle and per driver, including home charging?

We pass your enquiry to one commercial EV installer that does fleet and depot work. No ring-rounds, no lists, and your details aren't sold on.