Accessibility Standards and Import Rules Tighten the Next Procurement Gate

Charging buyers are moving beyond capacity targets and demanding accessible, standards-compliant hardware that can clear procurement and import checks.

Updated

What is this trend?

Accessibility and import standards are becoming the new buying gate for EV charging hardware, shifting procurement from price and volume to usability, certification, and market access.

  • Accessible design is now a procurement requirement, not a nice-to-have.
  • UK data shows most councils still lack chargers adapted for disabled drivers.
  • PAS 1899 and Equality Act compliance are emerging as baseline expectations.
  • Vietnam’s tighter import rules raise the bar on safety, EMC, testing, and certification.
  • Non-compliant fleets risk slower rollout and reduced access to key markets.

What’s the latest?

UK FOI data shows the next bottleneck is charger usability, not charger count: 111 of 289 responding councils have no on-street chargers adapted for disabled drivers, and only about 2.2% of on-street

How it developed

  1. Megawatt Freight Charging Scales, Utilization Becomes the Profit Test, and AFIR Drives Execution
    • Charging Buildout Shifts From Policy Targets to Compliance Execution

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