Electric vehicle infrastructure strategy is at the top of local governments’ to-do lists. But how does one choose the right installation contractor to support their EV charging point rollout?
Installing EV charging points shouldn’t be overwhelming or necessarily involve multiple contractors. Choosing a contractor who can provide a full turnkey solution often proves to be the most cost-effective, safest, compliant, credible, and straightforward.
After securing LEVI funding from the Department for Transport, some local governments have now moved on to selecting their EV installation contractor, but who is the right choice?
As a market-leading end-to-end installer and maintainer of commercial EV charging points, VolkerSmart Technologies has put together its top five recommendations when selecting a contractor for your project:
Early engagement: Planning your EV charging point rollout in advance
We recommend speaking with contractors from the very start, even when it’s just in the planning stages. With the rollout of EV charging points only ramping up in the past year, many organisations have little experience with how the process works and what they should expect.
By choosing a contractor with experience in the market and a background in highway electricals, they can guide you within your own budget, specifications, timeframes, and locations.
This is always beneficial as together, you can work out any problems before work has even begun.
If you have picked an experienced contractor, they will take lessons learnt from previous projects, making your scheme as smooth as possible and resolving any queries before they arrive on site, typically saving you time and money.
Health and safety and compliance
Before engaging with any contractor, ensure you’ve done a background check on them. This involves making sure they have all the right accreditations to meet industry standards.
We suggest your contractor is a Constructionline Gold member and an approved member of: Highways Electrical Association (HEA), Highway Electrical Registration Scheme (HERS) and National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC).
They should also be certified for ISO9001 Quality Management Systems, ISO44001 Collaborative Business Relationships, ISO14001 Environmental Management and ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management.
Highways can be complex and dangerous environments to work in. This, unfortunately, brings a large element of risk to any project. According to the Energy Network Association (ENA), 354 workers suffered life-changing injuries due to cable strikes between 2015 and 2020.
A safe digging process is an essential part of any project that involves breaking ground, and this need is resonated when working within an area of live electricity.
This means that safety should always be the number one priority for your contractor. Unfortunately, if things do go wrong, the cost to rectify mistakes can be big. Always ensure your contractor has the right-first-time approach!
Design/surveys
Designs and surveys can range greatly, from a desktop survey to a detailed design. While you may have already produced a design and survey, it’s very important that the contractor is involved in reviewing this. A good contractor has a design team available to give advice and recommendations, taking your concept to reality.
Procurement
As many of us are aware, a number of factors have caused lead times to increase and products to be more expensive due to supply and demand issues. The EV market is no exception to this, with more and more people installing EV charging infrastructure. From cabling to sub-stations, the demand is outweighing the supply.
Choosing a contractor who has already established relationships with suppliers is vital. Not only can this dramatically decrease lead time, but it can also provide monetary savings, where products can be supplied at discounted rates.
Programme
Unfortunately, many factors decide the programme and can often be out of the hands of you and your main contractor. Established contractors often have a number of supply chain partners they can call upon if required.
However, picking a contractor that is an accredited Independent Connection Provider (ICP) significantly reduces timescales, as they have the skills to carry out electrical connections to get your charging points up and running, removing the need to wait for third- party organisations.
So, who are VolkerSmart Technologies?
VolkerSmart Technologies is a market-leading installer and maintainer of electric vehicle charge points. We started working in the EV market back in 2017, coming from an experienced background in highway electrical, where we have worked along the highway for over 50 years.
We have already installed over 5,000 charging points in the UK (10% of nationally installed commercial EV chargers), by working on behalf of local authorities or Charge Point Operators (CPO) and our figures are increasing each day.
We provide a full turnkey solution for sourcing, installing, and maintaining electric vehicle charge points. From early contractor involvement to the maintenance of your charging points.
We are an accredited independent connections provider, which means we can connect directly to the local power network on numerous electrical highway assets without reliance on the statutory provider.
We are part of VolkerHighways, a leading integrated highway services provider. We belong to VolkerWessels UK – a group with a turnover in excess of £1bn, which brings together five business units to collaborate across multidisciplinary projects across the UK.
This means we have the financial stability and strength to give our clients complete confidence in an emerging industry.
Want to know more? Get in touch with our dedicated team by emailing
business.development@volkerhighways.co.uk
VolkerSmart Technologies
business.development@volkerhighways.co.uk
www.volkersmarttech.co.uk
Twitter
LinkedIn
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
