How to Charge if You Can't Get a Home EV Charger
A guide that covers how you can still drive a full battery EV (BEV) even if you can’t have a home charger.
10 Nov 2025
2 min read
Summary
Sometimes it’s not possible to have a home charger installed where you park your car (eg. you don’t have off street parking). If that’s the case, it doesn’t have to be a deterrent to EV ownership. It’s still entirely possible to drive a full battery EV (BEV) by charging at other locations including:
- At work.
- At public destinations.
- At rapid chargers.
- Locations that don’t exist yet but might in the future.
The charging ecosystem
It’s most convenient to charge an electric car where it is parked anyway (which is about 95% of the time) using chargepoints installed at the locations you regularly visit.
For most people that means home, then work, then your other destinations - while those journeys beyond the range of your battery will require less frequent use of high-powered en route chargers.
Home charging is where most charging occurs because it’s so convenient. However, not everyone has suitable off street parking at home that allows them to have a home charger.
Do not write off getting an EV because you can’t get a home charger, we just need to look elsewhere in the charging ecosystem.
Workplace charging
Many people use their car to get to work and park at their workplace for a good many hours, as such workplace charging offers a huge opportunity.
With most commuters driving less than 30 miles to work and BEVs increasingly having real ranges of more than 200 miles, workplace charging makes owning a BEV easy, particularly when coupled with the use of the public network for top up, as required.
Some modal interchanges (e.g. rail station car parks) can also fulfil the Workplace role.
Tip: The government WCS grant allows businesses to reduce the cost of Workplace chargepoints by up to £14,000. If you want your employer to offer chargepoints at work, the best thing you can do is ask them to contact our team to discuss options.
Destination top-up charging
If you don’t have a regular charging spot at home or work, you can always top-up at your other destinations when you’re out and about.
Pod Point is one of the companies working hard to build the public network so that there is an easy to use chargepoint everywhere you park.
There is still a way to go until there are enough chargepoints that mean you have enough top up charging opportunities to cover all but your infrequent long journeys - but we will get there.
Tip: The public network that can sustain those with no home or work charging is likely to develop as a result of the majority of BEV drivers who can charge at home/work demanding more public charging opportunities.