Is it time for Village Halls to have EV chargers?

As a Trustee of a Village Hall, UKEV Co-Director, Tracey, recently found herself pondering whether it was time for her local hall to take the plunge.

Assessing the Village Hall car park one day, I counted no less than 4 electric vehicles (EVs) in our 20 capacity car park (indeed 2 of our 3 trustees are EV owners!). Whilst I'm no stranger to the EV revolution, it did strike me that even smaller organisations and charities such as the humble village hall might be wondering whether to explore EV facilities. Here's some of my considerations with my trustee/venue hat on:

Is there demand?

We do attract a number of EV users already, although many are local and stay for an average of 70 minutes whilst attending a class at the Village Hall (therefore you could argue charging isn't essential for many). That said, we also attract training events by national companies and act as an AGM venue for small, national charities - there may be a demand from EV users coming for 3-6 hour trips for these activities. So, Yes - there may be demand from our current users.

Are there opportunities to commercialise our EV charging offer?

EV chargers would use our (the Village Halls) power and so there has to be a fair exchange for this. There are several opportunities for a public charging point or registering any potential chargers on the Co-charger Network (you can let out your charger for a fee).

Can we offer decent EV charging?

We've actually a three-phase supply at the Hall so have greater power transfer capacity (faster charging and more kw's!). There's an interesting opportunity to offer any charger we (the Hall) might install to the UK EV Charging Network - EV drivers like (and often need) fast chargers!

At a time when many destinations are still to take the leap to offer EV destination charging, this could prove attractive to potential visitors and enhance hire of the Village Hall.

Can we afford to install a destination charger?

There are a range of grants available both from the Office for Low/Zero Emissions but also at regional level (depending on the priorities of your Local Enterprise Partnership). Charities such as Village Halls are eligible for the Workplace Charging Scheme which supports the cost of EV charger supply and installation.

If you'd like to discuss this further then please do get in touch with our team.

hello@ukevinstallations.com