Adding electric vehicle charging to a commercial site looks like a hardware purchase. In practice it is a small infrastructure project. It touches the electrical supply, the car park layout, who is allowed to charge, how energy is paid for and who keeps the equipment working. Decisions made early, especially about power and software, are expensive to undo later.
This guide sets out the questions we typically work through with a site before any charger is chosen, in the order that tends to avoid rework.
Start with who charges, and when
The right set-up follows from how vehicles use the site, not from a charger catalogue. A depot where vans return in the evening and leave at dawn has very different needs from a retail car park where visitors stay for an hour, or an office where staff park all day.
- Fleet vehicles: predictable arrival and departure times, often parked overnight, so energy can be spread across many hours.
- Employees: long stays during the working day, with open questions about who pays for the energy and whether charging is a staff benefit.
- Visitors and customers: shorter, less predictable stays, where speed of charge and ease of payment matter more.
- Tenants or shared users: several organisations on one supply, each expecting its own access rules and its own bill.
For each group, note the typical length of stay, how much energy a vehicle needs per visit and how many vehicles arrive at the same time. Those three facts drive almost every later decision.
AC or DC: match the charger to the length of stay
AC chargers supply alternating current and rely on the charger built into the vehicle to convert it, which limits how fast energy flows. They are simpler to install and well suited to places where vehicles stay for several hours: overnight depots, staff car parks and hotels.
DC chargers do the conversion inside the unit and deliver power straight to the battery, so they charge much faster. They need a larger electrical supply, more space, more cooling and more maintenance. They make sense where turnaround time matters: fleet vehicles that must be back on the road between shifts, or sites serving drivers who stop only briefly.
Many sites end up with a mix: a larger number of AC points for long stays and a few DC points for vehicles that cannot wait. Choosing by length of stay rather than headline speed usually gives a more useful and more affordable result.
Grid capacity and load management
The available electrical capacity is often the real constraint. Before settling on a number of chargers, establish what the site's connection can supply, how the existing building load varies across the day and the week, and whether the connection needs an upgrade. Upgrades are arranged with the network operator and can take time, so this question belongs at the start.
Load management lets more chargers share the same supply. Instead of every charger drawing full power at once, a controller divides the available capacity between connected vehicles and adjusts as demand changes. Depending on the site, this can mean:
- Static limits: a fixed ceiling for the charging group, set below the spare capacity of the connection.
- Dynamic balancing: charging power that follows a live measurement of the building's own consumption.
- Scheduling: shifting depot charging to hours when other demand is low or energy costs less.
- Priority rules: vehicles that leave first, or arrive with the least charge, receive power first.
Load management is also where EV charging meets wider energy management. Where a site has solar generation, battery storage or other large loads, it is worth planning them as one system rather than as separate projects.
Open protocols to avoid lock-in
Every networked charger needs software to authorise sessions, record energy and report faults. If the chargers can only talk to their manufacturer's own platform, changing operator, adding a different make of charger or connecting the data to your own systems later becomes difficult.
The Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) is the widely used open standard for communication between chargers and a central management system. Choosing chargers that support it, and confirming which version and which features each model implements, keeps the hardware and the software separable. It is also worth asking how firmware updates are delivered, whether the management system offers an API for your own reporting, and who owns the session data.
Access, billing and everyday use
Decide early who may charge and how they identify themselves: RFID cards, an app, a fleet account, or open access with card payment. Each user group may need a different rule. Fleet charging is usually an internal cost allocated per vehicle or department. Staff charging may need reimbursement or a deduction from pay. Visitor charging needs a clear tariff and a receipt.
Signage, bay marking and a policy for vehicles that stay connected after charging is complete matter as much as the technology. A charger blocked by a fully charged car is, in practice, a charger out of service.
Monitoring, maintenance and phasing
Chargers are field equipment exposed to weather, vehicles and heavy use. Remote monitoring shows which points are faulty, offline or unused, and session data shows whether the installation matches real demand. Agree in advance who responds to faults, how quickly, and how spare parts are handled.
A phased approach reduces risk. Start with the chargers needed for the vehicles you have now, measure how they are used, then add points where the data shows demand. A LIOMO project can include the site assessment, charger selection, coordination of installation with electrical contractors, connectivity, the management software and integration with existing energy or fleet systems, followed by ongoing support.