The days are getting longer, but that still doesn’t negate the need for improved public EV charging conditions, especially for women. Our Women in Broking Committee members are calling for more lighting, CCTV and improved facilities. Story by Committee member Sarah Tooze.
SENIOR female leaders within the broking sector believe more needs to be done to make the public electric vehicle (EV) charging experience safer for women and vulnerable groups.
Hannah-Louise Kirkpatrick, MD of Harmoto, and a member of the Women in Broking (WiB) steering committee, has found a lack of charging points at hotels to be an issue when staying away on business.
“That’s been a challenge because I’ve then had to drive to find a public charger,” she says.
“I remember using a charger at night on a commercial estate and feeling uneasy. There was no coffee shop for me to go and work in, and the nearest shop was closed. So I was sat in my car doing work on my laptop and I felt quite exposed.”
Jill Sidebottom, Head of Account Management at Fleet Alliance, shares Hannah-Louise’s concerns. She had limited range in her EV late one night and none of the public EV chargers where she stopped was working.
Luckily, an engineer fixed them but Jill says had he not been there she could have been left stranded.
“It feels like EV chargers are a ‘bolt-on’ - they are often at the back of a dimly lit car park. If they’re going to be at a petrol station they should be at a visible point within the forecourt not out of the way and out of sight. Charge point operators have to take ownership of this issue.”
Data confirms concerns
Research from Keele University found that female EV drivers are concerned about charging late at night in dark, poorly lit, unsheltered, and relatively isolated areas and often feel “trapped” inside their car when charging without any basic amenities nearby.
That feeling of vulnerability is amplified for a disabled woman if the charging point is not designed with accessibility in mind and it is difficult to reach charging cables.
Those concerns are backed up by data from ChargeSafe – a five-star rating system for public chargers based on safety and accessibility.
It was founded by EV driver Kate Tyrrell (pictured right) after her own frightening experience trying to charge late at night with limited range.
Just 13% of the public EV charging points ChargeSafe rated in 2024 had sufficient lighting and only 23% were in places where there was CCTV.
Call for minimum safety standards
In 2022 Tyrrell supported a campaign calling for the Government to set minimum standards for personal safety at public EV chargers.
This call has been reiterated by Rebecca Whittaker, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at broker funder Ayvens.
Although Rebecca has had “nothing but good experiences” charging her EV, she believes that one “bad experience” for a female EV driver is “too many”.
She wants to see a “joined-up approach” from charge point operators (CPOs), landowners, distribution network operators (DNOs) and local authorities, and “more stringent regulations” around charge point installation, with proper lighting and fully monitored CCTV cameras as a minimum.
The Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 require network operators in the UK to provide a free to use 24/7 staffed helpline at all charge points and for rapid chargers (50kW and above) to achieve 99% reliability.
However, only about a fifth of public charging devices are rapid or ultra-rapid public, according to the latest ZapMap data, which means reliability could still be an issue at other public charge points.
Features which could improve charge point safety
Laura Muir, Head of AR and Partner at Fleet Alliance and WiB steering committee member, would like to see charging hubs with decent lighting and CCTV in residential areas for those who don’t have the ability to charge at home.
“That would encourage more people to feel safe and give them the flexibility to get to a charge point that’s close to their car’s range,” she says.
“In terms of CCTV, perhaps you could have a camera built into the unit like banks do with ATMs.”
Other safety measures which have been called for by women include:
- a what3words address (a combination of three words that identifies a specific three metre square) on charge points;
- automatic location sharing with selected contacts or an integrated panic button which automatically connect a driver to the emergency services through a CPO’s app;
- regular maintenance checks on all public chargers;
- more community-based platforms, such as Facebook group Women Drive Electric, where female drivers can warn each other which charge points to avoid;
- being able to reserve a safe charging space in advance;
- and charge points being close to amenities such as toilets and a coffee shop.
Women still love their EVs
Despite personal safety concerns, many women who have made the switch to an EV would not go back to a diesel or petrol model as they love the experience of driving an EV, as well as the environmental and financial benefits.
Hannah-Louise, Jill and Laura also believe they have a responsibility to lead from the front in the EV transition.
As part of performing a fleet audit with her customers, Hannah-Louise will now be incorporating advice on public charging from a safety perspective.
“From a fleet perspective, my customers have a duty of care to their drivers - be they grey fleet drivers, company car drivers or salary sacrifice drivers - so I’ll be advising them to research charging locations, using apps like ChargeSafe, to make sure they and their drivers are fully informed.”
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Sarah Tooze has been an automotive journalist for more than 15 years, specialising in the fleet and transport sectors. She has held senior positions at industry-leading B2B titles Fleet News and Smart Transport, and led campaigns championing motorists as consumer editor for online used car marketplace Heycar and motoring advice website HonestJohn.co.uk. In 2017 she won the Newspress Automotive Business Journalist award.
