Electric vehicles are arriving in Swansea business car parks faster than most facilities managers expected. Whether you operate from a Swansea Enterprise Park unit in SA6, a city-centre office in SA1, or a campus site like Swansea University’s Bay Campus in SA1, providing workplace EV charging has moved from a nice-to-have perk to a recruitment and sustainability necessity. At FLD Solar & Electrical, we design, install and commission commercial EV charging infrastructure across all SA postcodes — and we help employers access the funding that brings costs down significantly.
The OZEV Workplace Charging Scheme: up to £14,000 back
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) grants employers £350 per socket, capped at 40 sockets per applicant. That means a business installing 40 outlets across its estate can recover up to £14,000 from central government before a single vehicle plugs in.
To be eligible, your organisation must be registered in the UK, have dedicated off-street parking, and use an OZEV-authorised installer — which FLD Solar & Electrical is. The grant applies to both 7kW single-phase and 22kW three-phase AC chargers. OZEV processes applications online, and in straightforward cases approval comes through within a few weeks. We handle the application paperwork on your behalf as part of every commercial EV installation we undertake.
Major SA postcode employers leading the way
The DVLA headquarters in Morriston (SA6) employs around 6,000 people — one of Swansea’s largest single-site employers. Organisations of that scale routinely run 200-vehicle car parks, where a properly staged EV rollout could see 50 or more charge points installed in phases. Swansea University’s two campuses, Admiral Group at their Swansea offices, and the cluster of manufacturing and distribution businesses along Fabian Way (SA1) are among the employers we regularly speak to about phased installation programmes.
Even smaller SA3 and SA4 employers — rural professional offices, farm diversification businesses, tourism operators — benefit from workplace chargers, particularly where staff commute long distances and cannot easily charge at home.
Charger types and typical installed costs
Choosing the right charger type depends on dwell time, grid supply capacity, and your employees’ typical shift patterns.
| Charger type | Power output | Typical installed cost (per unit) | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7kW AC smart charger | 7 kW | £1,200 — £1,800 | All-day office parking (8+ hours) |
| 22kW AC three-phase | 22 kW | £2,000 — £3,200 | Shorter dwell, fleet rotation |
| 50kW DC rapid charger | 50 kW | £18,000 — £28,000 | Visitor bays, fleet rapid top-up |
| 150kW DC ultra-rapid | 150 kW | £45,000 — £65,000 | Logistics and fleet depots |
These figures are installed costs including groundworks, cabling, distribution board upgrades and commissioning. OZEV grants reduce the per-socket cost for 7kW and 22kW AC units, making those the most cost-effective starting point for most Swansea employers.
Load management: charging 20 cars without blowing the fuse
A 20-space employer car park, fully occupied with EVs drawing 7kW each, represents 140kW of simultaneous demand — more than most business incoming supplies can handle. Dynamic load management software solves this by distributing available capacity intelligently across all connected chargers in real time, ensuring the building’s peak demand limit is never breached while still charging every vehicle to an acceptable level before the end of the working day.
Modern charge management platforms also allow per-user billing, cost allocation by department, and detailed HMRC-compliant mileage and energy reports. For employers running company car fleets, this simplifies benefit-in-kind reporting considerably.
Pairing EV chargers with rooftop solar
Here is where Swansea commercial premises can unlock a genuinely compelling return. A rooftop solar array generating during the working day produces electricity at a self-consumption cost of around 4—6p per kWh — compared to 22—28p per kWh from the grid at current business tariff rates. Routing that generation to EV chargers during peak solar hours reduces your operational cost per charge dramatically.
For a business with 50kWp of roof-mounted solar and 10 EV chargers, intelligent scheduling can direct 200—300kWh per day of solar generation directly to vehicles. At the avoided grid rate, that represents savings of £44 — £84 per day, or roughly £12,000 — £22,000 per year, on top of whatever export income or SEG payments apply to surplus.
NGED connection requirements for high-power installations
National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) is the distribution network operator for South Wales. For any EV installation adding more than 16A per phase to your site’s consumption, a G98 notification is required. For larger installations — typically 50kW rapid chargers and above — a formal G99 connection application is needed, which involves a feasibility study and may require network reinforcement.
NGED’s assessment timelines for SA postcodes currently run at six to twelve weeks for G99 applications. FLD Solar & Electrical submits these applications on your behalf and manages the process through to connection agreement. Where reinforcement is required, we work with NGED’s delivery partners to schedule the necessary works.
Payback model: 20-space car park at a Swansea SA6 employer
For a 20-space installation using 7kW smart chargers, paired with an existing or new 60kWp rooftop solar array:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Installed cost (20 x 7kW chargers) | £28,000 |
| Less OZEV WCS grant (20 sockets x £350) | -£7,000 |
| Net capital cost | £21,000 |
| Annual grid electricity avoided (solar self-consumption to EVs) | £8,500 |
| Annual staff EV benefit / reduced car allowance | £3,200 |
| Simple payback period | ~2.9 years |
Results vary based on actual occupancy, solar irradiance, grid tariff, and shift patterns. We provide a full site-specific model at survey stage at no charge.
Speak to FLD Solar & Electrical
FLD Solar & Electrical installs commercial EV charging infrastructure across Swansea and the wider SA postcode area, from SA1 docklands to SA8 Pontardawe. Our team is OZEV-authorised and works alongside your facilities team to deliver a compliant, future-ready charging solution.
Call us on 01792 680611 or use our online enquiry form to arrange a free site survey. We will assess your supply capacity, roof potential, and OZEV eligibility, and provide a detailed proposal within five working days.
