Buy for utilisation: measure the depot’s own duty first, then let the measurements set the purchase. Utilisation — the share of a port’s time and capacity that vehicles actually use — is counted from your own session records; no outside benchmark can tell you your number. When vehicles return, how long they dwell, how much energy each needs before its next shift: those three records decide the port count and the power per port.
Key Takeaways
- Measure the depot’s own duty — returns, dwell, shift energy per class — before any purchase.
- Concurrency sets the port count; the dwell window sets the power per port.
- Buy in phases; let session records argue for expansion.
- EVDANCE serves light-duty depots and states its boundary: no bus, heavy-duty or high-power DC product.
Step 1: Measure the Duty You Already Run
The evidence already exists — dispatch logs, telematics, fuel records from the vehicles being replaced. Pull three numbers per vehicle class: return-to-base time, dwell window before the next shift, energy a shift consumes. Classes matter more than totals: vans returning together at 18:00 and leaving at 06:00 have a twelve-hour window; pool cars come and go all day. Buy against the classes, not the average day.
Step 2: Ports From Concurrency, Power From the Window
| Evidence from your records | The decision it sets | How the decision is made |
|---|---|---|
| How many vehicles are plugged in at the busiest moment | Port count | Concurrency, not fleet size: vehicles returning in waves share ports across the night |
| Dwell window and the energy the next shift needs | Power per port | Shift energy divided by the window gives the rate the port must sustain — inside the DOT Level 2 band of 7–19 kW for most overnight duty |
| A class with a short turnaround | Whether any DC is needed at all | Only the class whose window cannot be met at AC rates justifies a DC point |
| Vehicles arriving in phases over the replacement programme | Install phasing | Infrastructure for the full plan, ports per phase; expansion argued from the first phase’s records |
The sizing arithmetic — currents, the NEC rule sizing breakers at 125% of a continuous load, supply capacity — is worked in our guide to sizing depot AC chargers for vans and light commercial vehicles. This article is the step before it. A port used hard for six hours of a twelve-hour window beats a faster port used for two: utilisation, not rating, is what the depot pays to create.
Step 3: Buy in Phases, and Let the Records Argue
Fit the first phase, run it, and read its records before committing the rest. Session data — OCPP-based records make utilisation visible at all, as our OCPP explainer sets out — shows where vehicles queue and where ports idle. Queues justify the next phase; idle ports argue for moving hardware between classes instead. Access control belongs in the same purchase: any authorised driver must be able to start any port — a stated access method (RFID or app, as listed) plus session records per vehicle. The employer’s wider policy sits in our workplace charging program guide; the depot purchase is narrower.
Hardware for Light-Duty Depots — and the Honest Boundary
For depot AC, the EV-AC03201T station serves two bays from one unit — two Type 2 connectors sharing up to 43 kW (22 kW per connector), OCPP 1.6J, RFID, IP54 — and the EV-ACT3204PE 22 kW three-phase wallbox covers single bays (RFID and app access). For depot AC, the EV-AC03201T station serves two bays from one unit — two Type 2 connectors sharing up to 43 kW (22 kW per connector), OCPP 1.6J, RFID, IP54 — and the EV-ACT3204PE 22 kW three-phase wallbox covers single bays (RFID and app access). Where a light-duty class turns around fast, the EV-RHDC30K-L compact DC charger delivers 22 kW — a top-up class, below the DOT’s 50–350 kW DC fast band. The boundary, plainly: EVDANCE offers no bus, pantograph or heavy-duty product and no high-power DC, so this method serves car, van and light-commercial depots. EVDANCE was founded in 2011, exports to 30+ countries and carries a 3-year standard warranty. Enquiries start through our commercial charging team or contact us.
Frequently Asked Questions
What utilisation rate should a depot aim for?
There is no published benchmark to aim at; a vendor quoting one is inventing it. The right level is the depot’s own: ports busy enough that vehicles never wait, and none bought so far ahead of demand that it idles for years. Your records show both failures.
Should a depot choose AC or DC charging?
The dwell window decides. Overnight return-to-base duty is met by AC inside the DOT Level 2 band for most light-duty classes; DC earns its cost only where a class’s turnaround is too short for AC. Mixed depots usually need mostly AC, plus a few DC points at most.
When should a depot add more ports?
When the records show concurrent demand going unmet — vehicles waiting, or a class regularly starting a shift short. Fit infrastructure ahead of the vehicle programme; let measured queues, not forecasts, release the port purchases.
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
- How to Plan a Workplace EV Charging Program
