Chargers that pull in and keep customers at retail parks, restaurants, gyms and venues — dwell time turned into footfall and, usually, a paid revenue stream.
What destination & customer charging involves
1-3 hour dwell mixes AC and DC rapid; a paid public revenue stream or CPO revenue-share model; no dedicated grant, but the 100% First-Year Allowance applies to the equipment.
Sizing and cost
A typical destination & customer charging project runs to 4-20+ sockets, 22kW AC + 50-150kW DC rapid, contactless, at an indicative £30,000-£250,000 with roughly a 5-year payback. The biggest cost variable is the electrical connection, not the chargers — which is why we lead with your supply and use load management to fit more sockets within it wherever possible. See the full cost breakdown and charger-type guide.
Compliance and connection
Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 apply once charging is public and paid (contactless >=8kW, 99% rapid reliability, p/kWh pricing, 24/7 helpline, roaming, open data — OPSS); PAS 1899:2022 accessibility.
We handle the Distribution Network Operator application and, where a public or paid element applies, design to the relevant regulations from the outset. Read more on load management and the DNO connection.
Funding this project
The 100% First-Year Allowance lets you write the chargepoint cost off against tax; where a grant applies to your use case we handle the paperwork. See our grants and funding guide for the current, dated position and the schemes that closed in 2026.
Destination charging: turn dwell time into footfall, spend and repeat visits
Destination charging is a different commercial animal from workplace or fleet charging. Here the charger is not a staff perk or a logistics cost — it is a footfall magnet. A driver who plugs in at your retail park, hotel, garden centre or leisure venue is captive for the length of their stay, and that dwell time is the whole business case. A weekly-shop supermarket visit runs 40-90 minutes; a pub lunch or gym session 60-120 minutes; a hotel stay overnight. Match the charger speed to the dwell, not the vehicle's maximum, and every kWh delivered is time the customer spends inside spending money.
Sizing to dwell time. This is why destination sites lean on 22kW AC for medium-dwell retail and hospitality — a car that sits for an hour adds meaningful range at £2,500-£4,500 per bay installed, and most EVs cap at 7-11kW AC anyway, so you rarely need faster for a genuine dwell. Reserve 50-150kW DC rapid (£25k-£45k+ per unit) for forecourt-style, short-dwell locations — motorway-adjacent, coffee-and-go, drive-thru — where the point is to top up in 20 minutes and leave. Most destination estates run a deliberate mix: a bank of 22kW for the long-stay majority plus one or two rapids to capture passing trade and reassure range-anxious visitors. See charger types for the full speed-to-dwell matrix.
No dedicated grant — but the tax relief is generous. Destination charging does not qualify for the Workplace Charging Scheme (that is for staff and fleet use) or the Depot Charging Scheme (vans/HGVs/coaches). What does apply is the 100% First-Year Allowance on EV charging equipment, in force to 31 March 2027 — you write off the entire capital cost against taxable profit in year one. Combined with a well-sized install, that materially shortens payback. Details on grants and funding.
The compliance that bites — once you charge for it. The moment your chargers are public and paid, the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 engage, enforced by the OPSS. You must offer contactless payment at rapid units (50kW+), price transparently in pence per kWh, meet a 99% reliability standard across your rapid network, publish open charge-point data, and provide a 24/7 helpline. PAS 1899 accessibility guidance shapes bay layout and kerb design. Get this designed in from day one — retrofitting contactless and reliability monitoring onto a cheap install is expensive.
Revenue model: capex vs CPO revenue-share. You can fund it two ways. Own the hardware outright — full capex, full FYA, and you keep 100% of the p/kWh margin plus all the footfall upside. Or hand the site to a Charge Point Operator on a revenue-share concession — they fund and run the kit, you take a slice of usage and the footfall benefit with near-zero capex. Owning suits high-footfall sites where the tariff margin and dwell-driven spend justify the outlay; revenue-share suits lower-traffic or capital-constrained sites.
Watch the grid. A bank of 22kW AC plus rapids can trip a costly DNO reinforcement. Dynamic load management spreads available capacity across bays and defers that spend, and three-phase or high-load rapids need G99 approval before works begin.
We size the AC/rapid mix to your actual dwell times, model capex-vs-CPO payback, and design PCPR-compliant from the outset. Get your destination-charging quote.
Typical destination & customer charging install
- Sockets & power
- 4-20+ sockets, 22kW AC + 50-150kW DC rapid, contactless
- Typical project value
- £30,000-£250,000
- Payback
- 5 years
Get a free destination & customer charging quote
Responds within one working day
- 1. Free desk feasibility from your meter data and roof, no obligation.
- 2. Site survey and a fixed-price proposal, itemised in writing.
- 3. Install and aftercare by MCS-certified engineers.
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- NICEIC
- RECC
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