Bath-based disability design charity Designability has launched a freely available set of design guidelines for manufacturers, installers, providers and site owners of public electric vehicle charging point infrastructure that it says will ensure accessibility for all users.
Keen to ensure that no-one is left behind in the transition to electric vehicles, the charity worked in partnership with Motability, the national disability charity, on extensive research and user engagement with disabled people. The design and engineering team at Designability also sat on the steering group for PAS 1899 on accessible EV charging – a new standard from the British Standards Institution (BSI), co-sponsored by Motability and the Office of Zero Emissions Vehicles.
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The BSI Standard was launched on 11 October.
‘The uptake of electric vehicles is increasing across the UK and the EV public charging infrastructure is being rolled out at pace to meet that demand, so this is a crucial time for us to ensure it is the best it can be, and accessible for all,’ said Designability CEO Catharine Brown, who was among those who spoke in the BSI launch webinar. ‘The outcomes of our research and user testing at every stage of the process have ensured the published design guidance does deliver what good inclusive design looks like, to ensure accessibility for everyone and future-proof the public EV charging infrastructure. Our work is presented in a way to help, with clear and illustrative guidance, which has helped to inform the BSI PAS. The standard is the first in the world, positioning the UK public infrastructure as world leading.’
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The guidance looks at several areas for consideration, including signage, lighting, the built environment, access to amenities, cables, sockets and actually charging an EV, and features design examples from the prototypes that Designability developed as part of the process of putting together the guidance.
The online design guidance also contains links to the BSI PAS 1899, helping to provide an understanding of what accessible public EV charging could look like now and into the future.
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You can view the design guidance here.