Ready for take-off: EV parking at airports

Of all the journeys motorists make, one of the most time-sensitive is the drive to the airport before departing on a flight. For an Electric Vehicle (EV) driver, as well as worry about traffic jams, road works and airport parking there is the additional concern about coming back to a car with depleted charge. 

The typical organised EV driver will set off to the airport with a full battery but, unless the airport is nearby, she may not have enough charge left to get home again. 

In that scenario, she has two options. One is to stop on the way to the airport to top up with enough charge to complete the return journey. The second option is to break her journey after flying back and top up to be able to get home in the EV. 

Both options bring with them the anxiety of encountering broken charge points or queues of EVs waiting to plug in. That’s annoying enough on the way home, adding to the travel time which has already included a journey to the departure airport and the flight itself. 

But on the way to the airport, queues and charge points that aren’t working are seriously discomfiting. No-one enjoys feeling like they will arrive at the airport with too little time to spare. 

A third way – EV park and charge 

There is a third option. Book airport car parking which has EV charging bays. Great idea. But is there enough airport parking with EV charge points at the UK’s airports?  

Anecdotally, the answer appears to be no. Official airport car parks (typically those closest to the terminals) have the kinds of numbers that used to be seen at motorway service areas and public car parks in the earliest days of EV adoption. A couple here, a few there, sometimes none. 

You might encounter slow chargers (7kW, say) in the short stay car parks, which is about as much use as a chocolate airplane. Rapid charge points would be welcome here, for those dropping off or picking up passengers. Or you might find no charge points at all in the long stay car parks. 

Aberdeen Airport has six 7kW chargepoints, Birmingham has five outlets, Bristol has twelve 7kW, Glasgow six, Gatwick has eight offering 22kW. London Heathrow has some in its many car parks. Some are free to use, others bill the typical costs found for public charging. 

But there appears to be little provision for travellers who want to leave their car in an official long stay airport car park on a 7kW charge point whilst they are away, so they will pick up their car again with a full charge for the drive home. 

A draining experience 

Leaving a partially charged electric car for a couple of weeks also invites further loss of charge whilst idle. Tesla says its cars consume one per cent of charge per day whilst parked. Tesla recommends deactivating features such as Sentry Mode if parking for an extended time. 

So far, not so good. But take a look beyond the airport’s boundaries and there is more joy to be found by EV drivers at the ‘unofficial’ car parks nearby. 

Here more of the operators appear to have grasped the opportunity. Valet – or ‘meet and greet’ – parking providers at several UK airports offer EV charging, usually as an additional service. And for an additional fee. 

It’s a win-win for the car park operator. They become the car park of choice for the rapidly expanding number of EV drivers in the UK. And they get to charge a premium (of up to £35 I found) for a premium additional service. 

And because of the nature of the charging need – for a few hours on, say, a 7kW charge point, at any point during what might be a stay of days or even weeks – they can charge many vehicles on just a few charge points.  

Cost effective to install and charge 

They are the kind of charge points that are much quicker and cheaper to install than speedier ones, needing only a one phase supply and with the option of using load balanced dual outlet charge points. Plus, the operators can charge EVs at a time of day (or usually night) when electricity is cheapest. 

Some drivers like valet parking, some prefer to park themselves. Airport car park operators, both on-site and nearby, should grasp the scale of both opportunities by scaling up their EV charging infrastructure and futureproof facilities for expansion as EVs continue their growth towards a majority of new car sales. 

We know the UK’s Electric Vehicle drivers are the keenest to charge in car parks out of the five European countries surveyed by YouGov for the EV chargepoint manufacturer CTEK. More than one in seven (15%) Electric Vehicle (EV) drivers surveyed in the UK said that a public or private car park would be their preferred charging place. 

The number of EV drivers looking for long stay airport parking with EV charging will inevitably grow. Zapmap’s July 2023 data showed there were 45,737 UK charging points in 26,805 locations. The number of charge points rocketed 40% in just one year. Airport car park operators, plug into that.