Through a partnership with the Motability Foundation, we have conducted extensive research and engagement with disabled drivers and passengers and those close to them, to understand the challenges they face with EV charging and shape the solutions needed.
One in five people in the UK are disabled.
It’s estimated there will be 2.7 million disabled drivers or passengers in the UK by 2035, with 1.35 million expected to be partially or fully reliant on the public charging infrastructure.
Motability Foundation has conducted extensive research to understand the barriers disabled people face in using electric vehicles. Through this research, they have identified that there is a lack of accessibility across the UK’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
Sam shares his experiences of why it’s important to have easy access to EV charging points.
The design and engineering team at Designability have sat on the steering group for PAS 1899:2022 on accessible EV charging – a new standard from the British Standards Institution (BSI), co-sponsored by Motability Foundation and the Office of Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV).
Our main output from this project has been the creation and development of official Design Guidance which has been directly influenced by what disabled drivers and passengers, and those close to them have told us first-hand.
This is the beginning of what good accessible public EV charging looks like. We are now helping to spread the word to the EV charging infrastructure industry so the free, open-source, Designability Design Guidance can be used by the industry to align with the new BSI standard and future proof the infrastructure, avoiding costly retrofit.
