Five ways to make the EV handover easier for drivers

For someone getting their first EV, there can be quite a lot to get used to.

The car may feel different to drive, the controls may be unfamiliar and there may be new apps, charging networks, payment methods and reimbursement processes to get to grips with.

None of this needs to be difficult, but if drivers are expected to figure it all out by themselves, it can quickly lead to frustrations.

An effective handover can go a long way, helping drivers feel more confident and better prepared from the outset.

Here are five things you should consider.

Tailor the handover

Giving all employees the same generic handover won’t work.

Someone travelling 150 miles a day to customer meetings will have very different questions to an employee who stays locally but has a busier workload. Equally, a van carrying tools or equipment may behave differently to a lightly loaded car.

Before the vehicle is handed over, think about how it’s going to be used.

What sort of mileage is normally covered? Where are they likely to charge? Will they regularly need to use public chargers? Are long journeys or heavier loads likely to affect range?

Tailoring the handover also means thinking about the driver themselves. Is this their first EV? Will they mostly charge at home or at work? Are they comfortable using apps? Someone moving from one EV to another may only need a quick run-through of the differences, while a first timer may need more time to get comfortable with the basics.

The more relevant the handover is to the vehicle and the job, the more prepared drivers will feel once they’re on their own behind the wheel.

Give drivers time to get used to the technology

There will often be more for first-time EV drivers to get their heads around beyond how their car feels on the road.

There may be new displays and menus to learn, different regenerative braking settings, RFID cards, public charging networks, route-planning tools and home charging equipment.

Even something as simple as unlocking and starting the vehicle may be unfamiliar. Some models use a smartphone as a digital key so drivers need to know how to set this up and, just as importantly, what to do if their phone runs out of battery.

Apps can also become part of everyday EV use. They can let drivers check the battery level from their phone, see when charging will finish and warm up the car before setting off. At home, meanwhile, smart charging can also be scheduled around cheaper electricity rates.

Drivers should know how to use these features in the most efficient way. If they pre-condition the car while it’s still plugged in, for example, the cabin can be heated or cooled without eating into range before their journey has started.

Drivers should also know that rapid charging tends to slow as the battery gets fuller. Once the battery gets to around 80%, charging often slows down so unless the driver really needs the extra range, topping up to 100% may not be the best use of their time.

Giving drivers all of this information in one go can leave them feeling overwhelmed and like they need to become EV experts to work their vehicle, but this is not the case. Focus first on what they need day-to-day, from how to charge and where to find a working charger to how to understand the information the vehicle is giving them and what to do if something isn’t working as expected.

After a couple of weeks behind the wheel, check back in. By then they’ll have used the technology in the real world and are much more likely to know what they need help with.

What happens when things go wrong

There are a few things about EV breakdowns that drivers may not expect.

One is the 12V battery. Just like a petrol or diesel car, an EV still has a smaller conventional battery alongside the main traction battery. If this goes flat, the vehicle may not start and some electrical systems can stop working, regardless of how much charge is left in the main battery.

The recovery of an EV is also different. Towing an EV with its driven wheels on the road can cause the motor to generate electricity and potentially damage the vehicle’s high-voltage system, so many need to be moved on a flatbed or with specialist recovery equipment. Drivers don’t need to understand exactly why an EV might need specialist recovery, but they should know who to contact and not try to tow it themselves.

Hopefully they’ll never need it but knowing what to do in advance can make a difficult situation much easier.

Make sure the fleet policy has caught up

Some of the practicalities of running EVs may fall outside of what current fleet policies cover.

Can drivers use any public charging network? How should they pay? What can they claim back? What happens if they can’t charge at home?

Drivers can be on very different electricity tariffs, so the policy needs to be clear about how home charging for business use will be paid back. HMRC, for example, currently publishes separate advisory electric rates for home and public charging of electric company cars.

Drivers should also know what to do if a charger gets stolen or damaged, or it gets stuck in a vehicle and they have to use the manual release.

These may seem like small things, but they can cause lots of confusion if nobody’s quite sure what the rules are. Explaining them in a fleet policy helps ensure everyone knows what they’re doing.

Use the handover to revisit driver risk

It’s also worth using the move to an EV as a chance to review driver risk. The way the vehicle accelerates and slows can feel quite different from a petrol or diesel car, particularly for someone driving an EV for the first time.

The extra weight of the battery can also change how the vehicle feels on the road and may increase stopping distances, although regenerative braking can help.

Drivers need a bit of time to get used to how the vehicle behaves. EV-specific training can help, while an up-to-date risk assessment can show where someone might benefit from a little extra support or familiarisation.

Make the change feel manageable

For most drivers, their EV will soon become the norm.

The key is helping them through those first few days and weeks, when everything still feels new. A well-planned handover can make the transition feel much easier.