Design Guidance on public electric vehicle charging launches to ensure accessibility for all users
Bath-based design charity Designability has announced the launch of the Design Guidance for accessible public electric vehicle (EV) charging.
Designability has worked in partnership with national disability charity Motability on extensive research and user engagement with disabled people to create freely available design guidance to inform manufacturers, installers, providers, and site owners of public electric vehicle (EV) charge point infrastructure, to ensure accessibility for all users.
Additionally, the design and engineering team at Designability has 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 (OZEV).
PAS 1899 is a new specification on accessible public chargepoints for electric powered vehicles. It covers the design and placement of chargepoints, including the location spacing and surrounding environment, as well as the information, signals and indicators to be provided.
The BSI Standard was launched on 11 October in a webinar to hundreds of industry people who are keen to apply the standard.
Catharine Brown, CEO at DesignAbility, was among those speaking at the BSI launch webinar. She stated: “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.
“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.”
Recently, Designability worked on a project to create a widely available pushchair for wheelchair users to address the current gap in the market