Broadly speaking, the risks of charging EVs on-site fall into three main categories – fire risk, liability risk, and cyber risk.
As the increase in electric-vehicle fires has shown, lithium batteries pose a fire risk, which can spread quickly and emit harmful toxins.
As well as destroying a vehicle, a fire poses a risk to your wider premises, property, and personnel. This is particularly true if vehicles are left to charge overnight unattended, where a fire could very quickly spread to other vehicles and your buildings if there is no-one around to keep an eye on things and raise the alarm at the earliest opportunity.
As the provider of a charging point, you will also need to be aware of your liabilities to third-parties and their property. For example, if a damaged charging point results in a fire that destroys a customer’s or a colleague’s car, it’s crucial that your insurance policy covers you for any resulting liability. Similarly, if someone hurts themselves after tripping over a charging cable, you will want to be sure that your insurance covers any resulting liability.
There is also the threat of cyber-crime associated with the charging technology and electric vehicles themselves. Software, data processing, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) play an ever-increasing role, so there’s a risk of it being hacked or even held to ransom if you don’t take necessary precautions.
You will also need to consider the security risks associated with having charging points on-site. Vandalism and theft of cables is on the increase, so it’s best to factor this into your insurance requirements and also the positioning of charging points.