GPSJ - SPRING 2025 - Flipbook - Page 38
GPSJ
EV & EV CHARGING
How transport planning
professionals can play their
part in driving forward EV
charging infrastructure
rollout
Author: Matt Croucher, Chief Commercial O昀케cer at electric vehicle (EV) charge point operator (CPO), Believ,
discusses how transport planning professionals can play their part in driving forward EV charging infrastructure
rollout, and what the next few years will bring.
Tell us a bit about your
career, and what brought
you to EV charging?
For almost two decades, I
worked as transport planning
consultant specialising in
sustainable transport. I was
fortunate to be involved in a
broad range of projects, from
designing bus stations, to setting
up car clubs and monitoring air
quality for schools.
I became involved in planning
EV charging infrastructure in
the 2000s, when the renewable
energy industry was growing
rapidly, but EVs were still in their
infancy. Realising we were soon
going to be able to power cars
and other vehicles with clean
renewable energy, with all the
bene昀椀ts that brings, made it clear
to me that electri昀椀cation was
going to be key to the future of
any clean transport policy.
Reducing our dependency
on private vehicles, and helping
the general public to drive less,
is a crucial part of sustainable
transport planning. Wherever
possible, I would always advocate
38
the sustainable travel hierarchy,
where walking, cycling and public
transport are given priority over
driving. However, car usage still
makes up 60% of all UK trips,
and 78%* of distance travelled,
and realistically will always
hold a signi昀椀cant share of our
journeys nationally, even in the
most optimistic future scenarios.
The electri昀椀cation of transport is
therefore essential to reducing
CO2 emissions by moving away
from fossil fuels.
But it wasn’t until I managed
an EV project on behalf of
Transport for London, and later
became the Zero Emission
lead for WSP, that EV charging
became my career priority. One
of my core tasks was to help local
authorities, transport agencies
or landowners in developing their
EV strategies, and in particular,
to forecast future infrastructure
requirements. It was in this last
role that I led the development of
a forecasting tool to predict the
UK’s charge point infrastructure
need and became increasingly
specialised in this area.
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL SPRING 2025
How has your planning
experience in昀氀uenced your
EV charging infrastructure
career?
It greatly in昀氀uenced my choice
of employer. For me, Believ
stood out because it is hardware
agnostic, giving it the 昀氀exibility to
install any speed of charge point;
that appealed to the transport
planner in me. It meant we could
o昀昀er a solution based on the
individual needs of the landowner,
the site and its average driver
dwell times. Getting this right is
essential to ensuring charging
infrastructure serves existing EV
drivers and attracts others to
make the transition.
I was also attracted to Believ’s
industry-leading backing and the
unique relationship it has with
its delivery partner, Virgin Media
O2. This was important to me
because with contracts typically
lasting up to 20 years, I knew our
partners need con昀椀dence that
their partners can be relied upon
in the long term.
I continue to draw on the
transport planning fundamentals
in my role as Chief Commercial
O昀케cer at Believ, including
my focus on understanding
travel behaviours, modelling
demand and planning transport
infrastructure investments.
Taking a data-led approach to
help us install future-proofed
infrastructure.
How long have you been at
Believ and what have been
your highlights?
I joined Believ in 2022 and was
promoted to Chief Commercial
O昀케cer in 2024. The new role
was designed to strengthen the
leadership of Believ’s rapidly
growing number of people and
teams and ensure we are all
aligned to the same commercial
goals.
Last year was incredibly
rewarding as we saw Believ’s
personnel head count and socket
numbers double in size, and our
private sector team break into
new markets. Another major
highlight was the successful
negotiation of the joint deal
with the London boroughs of
