Planning Commercial EV Fleet Charging Infrastructure
As UK businesses transition vehicle fleets to electric, workplace charging infrastructure becomes a critical operational requirement. Whether you are converting a sales fleet, installing chargers for employee benefit, or future-proofing a commercial property, the planning decisions you make now determine efficiency and cost for the next decade.
ALPS Electrical has installed commercial EV charging systems across businesses in Teesside, County Durham and Yorkshire. This guide covers the practical considerations for businesses planning multi-charger installations in 2026.
Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) Grant
The OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme provides up to £350 per socket (capped at 40 sockets per applicant) towards the cost of installing EV charge points at workplaces. Eligible businesses include charities, small and medium enterprises, and public sector organisations. Large businesses are no longer eligible as of 2024, but SMEs remain covered.
Key eligibility requirements:
- Off-street parking at the workplace that you own or lease
- Chargers must be smart (capable of being remotely controlled and sending usage data)
- Installation by an OZEV-approved installer (ALPS Electrical holds OZEV approval)
- Minimum 3.5kW per socket, OCPP-compliant for network connectivity
For a 10-socket installation, the WCS grant reduces costs by £3,500 — a meaningful contribution towards infrastructure that supports employee retention and ESG reporting.
Charger Types for Commercial Applications
Commercial EV charging splits into three categories, each suited to different use cases:
- AC Destination Chargers (7-22kW): Best for vehicles parked 4-8 hours. Cost: £800-£1,500 per unit installed. Suitable for employee parking where cars sit all day, or customer/visitor spaces at hotels, leisure centres and retail. Single-phase 7kW is most common; three-phase 22kW suits shorter dwell times.
- DC Fast Chargers (50-150kW): Best for rapid top-ups under 30 minutes. Cost: £30,000-£80,000 per unit. Suited to fleet depots, service stations, and high-turnover commercial sites. Requires three-phase supply with significant electrical capacity (100A+ per charger).
- Fleet Management Chargers (7-22kW with scheduling): AC chargers with intelligent load management that rotates charging across vehicles overnight. Cost: £1,000-£2,000 per unit plus management software (£50-£150/month). Ideal for fleets that return to depot overnight and need full charge by morning.
Load Management: The Critical Planning Factor
The single most important consideration for multi-charger installations is electrical load management. A building with 100A single-phase supply can support one 7kW charger comfortably — but 10 chargers drawing 32A each would require 320A, far exceeding available capacity.
Solutions include:
- Dynamic load balancing: Chargers share available capacity, reducing speed when demand is high but ensuring all vehicles charge by departure time. Systems like Easee, Alfen and Zaptec offer this natively.
- Scheduled charging: Programming chargers to operate during off-peak hours (typically midnight to 6am) when building demand is zero, using full available capacity.
- Solar integration: Pairing chargers with commercial solar panels offsets grid demand. A 50kW solar array can supply 5-7 chargers during peak production hours at zero marginal electricity cost.
- Supply upgrade: Where existing capacity is genuinely insufficient, a supply upgrade from the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) may be required. Costs vary from £1,000 for minor upgrades to £20,000+ for new three-phase supplies to rural commercial sites.
Installation Costs: What to Budget
Realistic budgets for commercial EV charging infrastructure in 2026:
- 4 x 7kW AC chargers (small office): £4,500-£7,000 installed. Minimal groundwork if parking is adjacent to the building.
- 10 x 7kW AC chargers (medium workplace): £12,000-£18,000 installed. May require sub-distribution board and load management system.
- 20 x 22kW AC chargers (large fleet depot): £35,000-£55,000 installed. Requires dedicated EV distribution board, load management and likely supply upgrade.
- 2 x 50kW DC rapid chargers: £80,000-£120,000 installed. Significant electrical infrastructure including dedicated transformer in some cases.
These figures include trenching, cabling, protection, commissioning and OZEV certification where applicable. Subtract WCS grant amounts for eligible SMEs.
Future-Proofing Your Installation
The most expensive element of EV charger installation is typically groundwork and cabling infrastructure, not the chargers themselves. We strongly recommend installing cable ducting and distribution capacity for your projected 5-year need even if only fitting chargers for current demand. The marginal cost of laying extra ducting during initial groundwork is 10-15% of the project, versus 50-70% if retrofitted later.
Similarly, specifying a distribution board with spare ways and installing trunking with spare capacity means adding chargers later requires only the charger units and final connections — hours of work rather than days.
Getting Started with Commercial EV Charging
ALPS Electrical provides complete commercial EV charging solutions from initial load assessment through to ongoing maintenance. We are OZEV-approved installers and can handle WCS grant applications on your behalf. Our installations use OCPP-compliant chargers from Easee, Zappi Pro and Alfen, all with network connectivity for usage monitoring and billing.
Contact us for a free commercial EV charging assessment covering your electrical capacity, charger recommendations, grant eligibility and installation timeline.