Summary
Charging one electric van at a sole trader's home is a straightforward domestic installation. Charging a fleet of five, ten, or twenty vans at a depot — or reimbursing a dozen employees who take vans home overnight — is a different problem entirely, and one that catches out trades businesses scaling up an EV fleet without planning the electrical infrastructure first. The naive approach of fitting one 7kW charger per parking bay quickly runs into the building's incoming electrical supply capacity long before every bay is fitted.
The practical fix is load management: either a dynamic system that shares available capacity across however many vans are plugged in at once (so ten vans overnight charge more slowly each, but all get a usable charge by morning), or a static allocation that caps each charger below its nameplate rating so the total never exceeds the supply. Getting this wrong either means an expensive, often avoidable DNO supply upgrade, or (worse) a site that trips out repeatedly once more than a few chargers are in simultaneous use.
The business also needs to plan for where vans actually charge. Depot-based overnight charging suits businesses that return all vehicles to a central yard; many trades businesses instead have staff take liveried vans home overnight, in which case the charging infrastructure question shifts to supporting and reimbursing home charging rather than building depot capacity. Both models can coexist, but they need different planning and different tax treatment.
Key Facts
- Load management is the central depot design decision — fitting full-power (7kW+) chargers to every bay without managing total simultaneous draw is the most common and most expensive planning mistake for multi-van depots.
- DNO notification scales with total capacity — a single domestic EV charger notification (G98) is very different from the G99 application needed once total connected generation/demand capacity crosses the relevant threshold for a multi-charger depot; a business adding chargers incrementally can unknowingly cross this threshold partway through a rollout.
- Charger type by use case — AC chargers (7kW single-phase, 11-22kW three-phase) suit overnight depot charging where vans are parked for 8+ hours; DC rapid charging suits businesses needing to turn a van around mid-shift, at significantly higher installation and running cost per kWh.
- CT clamp / dynamic load management (DLM) — the common commercial solution: a current transformer monitors the site's total incoming supply and throttles charger output dynamically so the building's main fuse/supply is never exceeded, letting more chargers be installed without a full supply upgrade.
- DNO supply upgrade — where load management alone can't support the desired charging capacity, a business may need to apply to its Distribution Network Operator for a higher-capacity connection, which can involve a multi-week to multi-month lead time and a material cost — plan this well ahead of a fleet rollout, not after chargers are already ordered.
- Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) — the relevant grant for depot charger installation cost, covered separately in electric vehicle grant for trade vans; this article covers the engineering/planning side the grant doesn't address.
- Home charging for liveried vans — employees taking a company van home overnight and charging it on their own domestic electricity supply should be reimbursed using the Advisory Electricity Rate (AER) — a pence-per-mile rate HMRC publishes and periodically updates, distinct from the Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) used for petrol/diesel company vehicles. ****
- Benefit-in-Kind treatment is unaffected by the charging method — a zero-emission van's nil BIK charge applies regardless of whether it's charged at a depot or at an employee's home; see electric van for tradespeople for the BIK detail.
- Planning permission considerations — ground-mounted chargers, cabinets, or any associated civils work at a depot can trigger planning considerations depending on location (conservation areas, listed sites, visibility from a public highway); a straightforward wall-mounted unit on an existing building is far less likely to need permission than new structures or external equipment cabinets.
- Smart charging regulations still apply — depot chargers, like domestic ones, fall under the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 default off-peak behaviour where applicable, though commercial/fleet-specific scheduling is usually configured directly for the business's operational needs rather than left on domestic defaults.
Quick Reference Table
Spending too long on quotes? squote turns a 2-minute voice recording into a professional quote.
Try squote free →| Fleet size / scenario | Typical charging approach | Key infrastructure decision |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 vans, depot-based | Standard 7kW AC chargers, no load management needed | Confirm existing supply capacity is sufficient |
| 3-10 vans, overnight depot charging | 7kW AC chargers with dynamic load management (CT clamp) | DNO notification level; whether existing supply suffices |
| 10+ vans, overnight depot charging | DLM system, possibly three-phase supply, DNO upgrade likely | DNO application lead time; phased charger rollout plan |
| Fast daytime turnaround needed | DC rapid charger(s) for a subset of the fleet | Significantly higher install cost; usage-pattern justification |
| Staff take vans home overnight | Home charger at each employee's address + AER reimbursement | Employee reimbursement process, not depot infrastructure |
| Mixed model (some depot, some home) | Combination of the above | Clear policy on which vans use which charging model |
Detailed Guidance
Why "one charger per bay" breaks down fast
A depot with ten parking bays and ten 7kW chargers installed at full rating would need 70kW of simultaneous capacity if every van charged at once — far beyond what most existing commercial electrical supplies provide without a significant upgrade. Load management solves this by either dynamically sharing available capacity (so charging slows as more vans plug in, but nothing trips out) or statically capping each charger below nameplate rating from the outset. For a business planning to grow its fleet over time, a dynamic (CT clamp) system is usually the more future-proof choice, since it automatically adapts as more chargers are added rather than needing manual reconfiguration each time.
DNO notification — don't assume it's a one-off tick-box
A single EV charger typically needs only a straightforward DNO notification (broadly equivalent to the domestic G98 process). As total connected charging capacity at a site grows — whether through more chargers, higher-power chargers, or rapid/DC units — the connection can cross into G99 territory, which involves a more detailed application and DNO assessment before connection, and can carry a longer lead time. A business rolling out chargers incrementally should check cumulative capacity against the relevant threshold at each stage, not just at the first installation, to avoid an unlicensed connection or a late-stage DNO rejection partway through a rollout.
Choosing AC vs DC for the fleet's actual usage pattern
Most trades fleets return to a yard overnight, which makes AC charging (7-22kW) the natural fit — vans have 8+ hours to charge, so speed matters far less than cost per kWh, and AC installation is materially cheaper than DC. DC rapid charging is only worth the substantially higher install and running cost where vans genuinely need a fast mid-shift top-up — a business with vans constantly on the road during the day and limited overnight dwell time, for example. Don't default to DC "to be safe" without a genuine operational case; it's the more expensive option on every axis except charge speed.
Reimbursing employees who charge liveried vans at home
Where staff take company vans home and charge them on their own domestic electricity rather than at the depot, the business should reimburse using HMRC's Advisory Electricity Rate — a published pence-per-mile figure specifically for electric vehicles, separate from the Advisory Fuel Rates used for petrol/diesel. This needs a clear internal policy (how mileage is recorded, how often reimbursement is processed) and should be set up before the first employee starts home-charging a company van, rather than retrofitted once a dispute arises over fair reimbursement.
Planning permission — usually not an issue, but check for edge cases
A wall-mounted charger on an existing building at an established depot rarely needs planning permission. The exceptions worth checking before a larger rollout: ground-mounted charging cabinets or canopies, any new structure visible from a public highway, and sites in a conservation area or with listed-building status nearby — any of these can shift a straightforward electrical installation into a planning consideration that needs resolving before civils work starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a three-phase supply to charge multiple vans overnight?
Not necessarily — a well-designed load-managed single-phase system can serve a modest multi-van depot, but three-phase supply gives materially more headroom and is usually the better long-term choice once a fleet grows past a handful of vehicles or any DC rapid charging is being considered.
What happens if I add chargers without checking the DNO threshold?
You risk either an unauthorised over-capacity connection (which the DNO can require you to remediate, potentially at cost and with disruption) or a site that trips/under-performs once total demand exceeds what the existing connection was approved for. Always check cumulative capacity against the relevant notification threshold before adding chargers, not just when the depot is first fitted out.
Is it cheaper to have staff charge vans at home or build full depot infrastructure?
It depends on fleet size and operational pattern. For businesses without a central yard, or where staff already take vans home, home charging with AER reimbursement avoids depot infrastructure cost entirely. For businesses with a central yard and predictable overnight parking, depot infrastructure (even with load management) is usually more cost-effective at scale and gives the business direct control over charging cost and scheduling.
Does the Workplace Charging Scheme cover load management equipment?
The scheme is specifically about charger/socket installation cost; check current scheme terms for whether ancillary load-management hardware is covered as part of the eligible installation cost — see electric vehicle grant for trade vans for the scheme's current mechanics, and confirm the latest eligible-cost scope directly with OZEV/your installer before assuming load management hardware is included.
Regulations & Standards
BS 7671:2018+A2:2022, Section 722 — governs the electrical installation requirements for EV charging equipment, including multi-charger/load-managed installations.
Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 (ESQCR) — underlying framework for DNO connection and notification requirements.
Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 — default smart charging behaviour applicable to qualifying charge points.
HMRC Advisory Electricity Rate (AER) — the published reimbursement rate for employee home-charging of company electric vehicles.
GOV.UK — Advisory fuel rates for company cars / Advisory Electricity Rate — current reimbursement rates for electric and conventional company vehicles.
Energy Networks Association — Connecting to the network (G98/G99) — DNO notification and connection application guidance.
GOV.UK — Workplace Charging Scheme — official grant scheme guidance for business charger installation.
electric vehicle grant for trade vans — Plug-in Van Grant and Workplace Charging Scheme grant mechanics.
electric van for tradespeople — the broader decision guide on whether an electric van suits a trades business, including BIK and running-cost detail.
load management explained — technical detail on CT clamp dynamic load management and alternative load-management methods.
ev charger workplace load management pricing guide — pricing for multi-bay workplace EV charging with dynamic load management.