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Accessible EV charging

Design guidance for accessible public electric vehicle charging

Photo of a woman sitting in a manual wheelchair in front of a simple EV charging unit that has a connector plugged into the socket on the front of it at waist height. She reaches forwards and holds the connector with two hands, by its main part and by the looped handle on the top of the connector.

Why you should consider accessibility 

No one should be left behind in the transition to electric vehicles.

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.

The Motability Foundation (opens in a new window), 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.

Through our partnership with Motability, we at Designability have conducted extensive research and engagement with disabled drivers and passengers and those close to them, to understand the challenges they face and shape the solutions needed.

The result is this free open-source Design Guidance for accessible public EV charging. Our research also informed the national BSI standard for accessible EV charging PAS 1899:2022 (opens in a new window), which has been co-sponsored by Motability and the UK Government.

Watch this video introduced by Designability’s former Chief Executive, Catharine Brown, to see an overview of the project including our research with disabled people.

Discover our design guidance