Partnering with fleet owners is a ‘must’ for electric vehicle potential to be realised across England. So says Swedish energy company Vattenfall as it expands into the UK.

Tomas Bjornsson, head of e-mobility at Vattenfall

Head of Vattenfall e-mobility Tomas Björnsson said that the combination of Vattenfall’s investment plans and smart solutions for home, office and destination charging will boost confidence in the young EV market, increase competition, help tackle drivers’ range anxiety, support clean air zones in Britain’s cities and ultimately bring down costs for drivers.

He added that a more open network is a ‘must’ if the EV potential is to be realised across England.

Vattenfall hopes to achieve this by partnering with commercial developers, real-estate companies, industries, fleet owners and public bodies, such as local authorities to install charging poles around Great Britain.

Björnsson stated: “Many charging poles in Great Britain are closed to a select number of users. We don’t think that will help grow the electric vehicle market as fast as is needed. That’s why we believe it is beneficial if both public and business-owned semi-public charging infrastructure can be made available for all drivers. It makes EV charging hassle free for the driver, and maximises utilisation of infrastructure for the real estate owners that invest in charging.”

The company hopes to install its first ‘charging poles” in the UK in June 2018 and is targeting all three charge point demographics – home, work and public – with its InCharge network. It is currently building an e-mobility team in Great Britain and a country director will join later next month.

Pay-as-you-go will be implemented at each Vattenfall charge pole, enabling any plug-in vehicle driver to use the network in addition to roaming agreements the company is forging with other charge point operators or driver service providers, which are unusual in England but increasingly common in northern Europe where Vattenfall is headquartered.

Magnus Hall, Vattenfall’s president and CEO, said: “We are rolling out the open and driver friendly InCharge across north western Europe. We are in Britain to grow.”