We believe that every public electric vehicle (EV) chargepoint should be accessible. With the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK due to end in 2030 we want to ensure that disabled people are not left behind in this transition.
Our key priority is to work with industry, Government and other charities to amplify the voices of disabled people in the transport system and create innovative solutions to the chargepoint accessibility issues faced by disabled people.
Accessibility standard for public EV charging – PAS 1899
We’ve conducted extensive research to understand the barriers disabled people face when using electric vehicles chargepoints. These include:
the weight of charging cables
the force required to attach the connector
the lack of dropped kerbs around chargepoints and,
unsuitable parking arrangements.
Accessible PAS 1899 standard and design guidance
Working in partnership with the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) we commissioned the British Standards Institution (BSI) to develop a national accessible charging standard for EV chargepoints.
The standard provides industry with a clear specification of how to make accessible chargepoints of different speeds and in different environments. It has been designed to apply to all chargepoints. The standard has now been published.
We also partnered with Designability and awarded Designability with grant funding to create freely available design guidance for chargepoint manufacturers, providers and designers, to help translate what is a complex technical standard into clear guidance.
We also funded Designability to create some exemplar prototypes of how to achieve accessibility for different chargepoint components.
Learn more about the design guidance.