The availability of chargers is the biggest obstacle to electrification facing fleets in the UK, according to research by Arval.

The leasing company found that 41% of UK fleets said there were not enough public chargers, while 39% had no charging available at their employees’ homes, and 25% had no chargers at their company offices.

The findings are from Arval’s Mobility Observatory Barometer research.

Head of the Arval Mobility Observatory in the UK John Peters said: “In our findings, 70% of companies mention at least one challenge related to charging points, so this is clearly a widespread issue.

“To some extent, the answer can be in the hands of employers. If there are no charging points at offices or at the homes of employees who have off-road parking for a charger to be fitted, then companies could take action to resolve these problems.

“However, there is much that remains outside their control. While the public charging infrastructure is growing, it remains patchy in places, and where employees live in terraced housing or apartments, installation of on-street charging is very limited although that situation is starting to improve.”

Other electrification constraints revealed by the research include the purchase price of EVs being higher than ICE cars (cited by 30% of respondents), model ranges being too restricted (23%), limited driving range (18%), and employee resistance to electric cars (16%).

Peters said: “Again, these are barriers that we believe are starting to disappear quite quickly. The price of acquisition of electric cars is now becoming very close to the same as ICE equivalents, especially when leased.

“As for model ranges being too limited, there are some potential gaps in general availability – such as proper 4x4s and pick-ups – but again, there are models appearing that should help to resolve these issues.

“It’s also interesting that fewer than one in five fleets mention range as an issue. Just a few short years ago, we’re confident that this would’ve been a major concern, but it appears that the 250–350-mile range typically found on fleet electric cars today is sufficient for most needs.”