One dual-connector station covers two vans per night at a depot. Both plug in when they return and share up to 43 kW — up to 22 kW per connector — while parked for the whole dwell, which is far longer than the charging itself takes. RFID ties each session to a driver or a vehicle, and OCPP 1.6J sends the records to the fleet’s platform. The real planning questions are the rota for nights when vans outnumber connectors, and the electricity supply as stations multiply.
Key Takeaways
- One dual-connector station covers two vans per night; the overnight dwell dwarfs the charging time inside it.
- RFID attributes each session to a driver or vehicle, and OCPP 1.6J feeds the records to the fleet platform.
- When vans outnumber connectors, the fix is a written rota first — then more stations, each adding two connectors.
- Midday turnarounds are a DC job, not a reason to oversize the overnight AC plan.
The Overnight Arithmetic Is Not Close
Sizing depot charging from daily energy and dwell time is covered in our fleet depot sizing guide; this article applies that method to one dual-connector station. The duty figures below are an invented example — replace them with your own route data:
| Example night | Energy needed | Charging time | Dwell available |
|---|---|---|---|
| One van, moderate day | 40 kWh | About 2 hours at up to 22 kW | 10 hours |
| Two vans on one station | 80 kWh combined | About 2 hours inside the shared 43 kW ceiling | 10 hours |
A van only ever takes what its own onboard charger accepts, so real sessions stretch beyond the example — and the overnight dwell absorbs that stretch. Two vans returning at different times take their energy in turn inside the same ceiling; both stay plugged in, recorded, and ready by morning.
Attribution: RFID per Driver or Vehicle
A depot does not only need energy in vans; it needs to know which van took it. The station’s listed RFID access lets each session start with a card tied to a driver or a vehicle, and its OCPP 1.6J connection feeds the session records — energy, start and finish — to the fleet’s platform, the pattern described in our OCPP explainer for operators. Cost allocation per vehicle then comes from records, not estimates. Whether drivers who charge at home are reimbursed, and on what evidence, is the employer’s own policy — the station’s contribution is the clean, attributed depot record.
When Vans Outnumber Connectors, the Rota Is a Document
Three vans and two connectors is not a hardware failure; it is a rota. The operator writes down which vans take the connectors first, whether a mid-evening swap happens and who does it, and which van can wait until morning on a partial charge. That document belongs to the depot, not to the charger. When the fleet grows past what a rota can stretch, the honest answer is arithmetic, not a bigger single box: each added station brings two more connectors and another 43 kW-class load into the supply conversation, which is a capacity assessment for the site’s electrician. The sizing guide linked above also lists portable three-phase chargers as backup for breakdowns and overflow.
The Station in the Depot
The EV-AC03201T dual-connector AC station is the unit in this plan: two Type 2 connectors, up to 43 kW shared (22 kW per connector), RFID, OCPP 1.6J, IP54, floor-standing. Overnight AC is its depot job. A van that returns nearly empty at midday and must leave again within the hour is a different job — that is a DC turnaround, and the stated step in the same range is the EV-RHDC30K-L compact DC charger, listed at 22 kW DC. Depots planning several stations can start from our commercial EV charging solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can one station really cover two vans every night?
On the example arithmetic, comfortably — provided each van’s onboard charger accepts a useful AC rate and nightly energy stays near the example range. Check your own daily energy per van against the dwell; if the two are close, the answer changes — the sizing guide’s method shows it.
What if a van needs a fast turnaround at midday?
That is outside overnight AC planning. A short-dwell turnaround is a DC job; within this range, the compact DC unit listed at 22 kW is the stated option for a turnaround bay.
Who can see which driver used how much energy?
The fleet, through its own platform. RFID identifies the card that started each session and the platform holds the records; access to them is the fleet’s own account arrangement.
Related Reading
- Fleet Depot Charging: How to Size AC Chargers for Vans and Light Commercial Vehicles
- OCPP Explained: What Charge Point Operators Need From EV Charger Hardware
- What Is the Best EV Charger for a Small Business? How to Choose
