Tom Rowlands, Managing Director of Global EV Solutions at Corpay, on why Great British Grid must continue to boost investment in its network to help support businesses planning to transition to an electric fleet
You can order the vehicles, you can install the chargers, but if the grid connection isn’t there, on time and at a price that works, none of it moves.
That is one of the least visible but most important parts of the EV transition and it is encouraging to see Great British Grid focused on speeding up connections and increasing investment in the electricity network. A depot upgrade for a fleet of vans or HGVs can involve lengthy and unpredictable connection timelines before a single charger goes in the ground.
If Great British Grid can genuinely make that process faster and more predictable, it would address a real commercial constraint. Fleets are making vehicle and infrastructure decisions years in advance through procurement cycles and long-term investment plans, so they need confidence that the power will be available when those vehicles arrive.
The ambition is welcome, but this is also a complex area and we now need to see more detail on the practicalities and timelines for delivery. Businesses will want to understand how quickly these reforms can translate into faster connections, greater capacity and more certainty over costs.
Grid reform and vehicle taxation are often treated as separate conversations. For any business trying to plan a fleet transition, they are part of the same investment decision.
Tom Rowlands is Managing Director of Global EV Solutions at Corpay
