As a passionate advocate for standards, safety and accessibility in parking, I and like-minded sector experts in this area looked forward to the publication of the British Standards Institution (BSI) PAS 1899 standard for Accessible EV Charging.
Originally co-sponsored by the Motability Foundation and the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) in October 2022, PAS 1899 was celebrated as the world’s first comprehensive national specification for accessible public EV charging. However, its early years have highlighted a stark contrast between its ambitious inclusive design goals and the sluggish reality of industry adoption.
What is PAS 1899?
The PAS 1899 standard outlines technical specifications to ensure that public EV chargepoints can be used comfortably by everyone, including disabled people and the elderly in both on and off-street parking locations. It addressed the entire charging environment, covering four major aspects:
- Physical Space: Requiring at least 1.2 metres of flat, smooth, and unobstructed ground around the charger and parking bay to accommodate wheelchair users.
- Equipment Design: Defining plug sockets, screen, payment and cable heights.
- Operational Force: Mandating that pulling cables or disconnecting plugs should require no more than 60 Newtons of force.
- Surrounding Infrastructure: Factoring in dropped kerbs, proper lighting, clear signage, and eliminated plinths or bollards.
The First Few Years: A Reality Check
V1 of these guidelines were met with mixed reviews from the sector and standards setters alike. Many operators and Local Authorities found them confusing and difficult to interpret.
Standards setters struggled to encapsulate every element into audits and accreditations (Newton meters not being a standard issue item for audit teams to carry!) and felt there were omissions, particularly around safety for arguably the most vulnerable people in society. Adaptations/simplifications and reiterations of the standard were applied to awards and accreditations to make PAS 1899 simpler and more relevant out in the field.
Operators started to do the best they could to ensure surrounding infrastructure was designed and installed as it should be but have frequently cited deployment complexity as a major hurdle. Retrofitting tight, historical, on-street urban environments to match expansive off-street parking bay sizes has proved incredibly difficult. Ambiguity regarding technical boundaries and divided developer-council responsibilities initially stalled early deployment.
But the biggest challenge was that of the hardware/chargepoints themselves. In 2022, there were only a couple of EV charging manufacturers that could genuinely claim that a few of their models were PAS 1899 compliant. So even with the best of intentions, with limited options, most accessible EV charge point installations at the time were destined to fail.
Despite intense advocacy from disability consumer groups, charities, trade associations and more, voluntary compliance with PAS 1899 has been remarkably low:
Industry assessments (Safer Parking Accessible EV) reveal that only five accredited public charging sites in the entire UK fully comply with the complete PAS 1899 specification.
Additionally, surveys conducted by EV groups like EVA England present a sobering landscape of public infrastructure:
- 47% of all EV drivers (with and without disabilities) continue to report physical accessibility issues when attempting to use public chargepoints.
- 51% of disabled drivers find the heavy, unyielding cables found at rapid and ultra-rapid chargers hard or extremely hard to use.
- 25% of Motability Scheme customers state they will actively avoid public charging networks altogether due to severe accessibility anxieties.
Revisions, Open Data, and the Pivot to Mandates
Recognition of these bottlenecks triggered a pivotal structural shift for PAS 1899. Following a formal two-year review process, the BSI and a diverse Technical Review Group have stepped in to update the framework. The key focus areas are:
- Framework Split: Proposals emerged to split PAS 1899 into two distinct parts: one tailored for off-street hubs and one for on-street constraints.
- Technical Revisions: Adjustments to component heights and cable weight rules to make infrastructure easier for manufacturers to deliver consistently.
- Open Data Integration: The creation of an open-data standard so drivers can reliably and with confidence live-stream, locate and even book assistance help at accessible chargers via maps and apps.
The most significant development occurred in late 2025, when Parliament backed an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This landmark change gave the UK Government explicit powers to make PAS 1899 compliance mandatory by law if voluntary industry improvements continue to lag.
The Road Ahead
The first few years of PAS 1899 have proven that guidelines, no matter how noble or free to access, rarely change infrastructure fast enough without legislative muscle. With the UK’s ambitious target for phasing out new internal combustion engines quickly approaching, the threat of legal mandates is finally driving the industry to act. Over the next few years, PAS 1899 is poised to shift from a progressive design wish list into a non-negotiable benchmark for the future of accessible EV charging within parking infrastructure.
We are anticipating V2 of PAS 1899 to be published in the Autumn of 2026 and will be keeping a very close eye on developments. This will enable us to provide our clients with the most up-to-date guidance and support as soon as the new standard is published.