Why UK Businesses Need an EV Charging Service Level Agreement

What is a service level agreement?

A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between your company and your service provider. Typically, they are used to cover critical assets by providing service, maintenance, and repairs, with the aim of protecting assets and minimising downtime. Many fleet operators will be familiar with this type of SLA because they are likely to be in place for vehicle maintenance already.

How does an EV charging SLA work?

An EV charging SLA is a contract in which your charge point operator promises to achieve minimum response times to emergency callouts. The SLA will cover the scope of the services available to you and might include regular inspection and maintenance of your chargers, and firmware updates.  

Why Are SLAs Important When Developing EV Charging Infrastructure? 

For electric fleets on business-critical missions, EV chargers are an essential part of their daily operational practice.

SLAs Help Increase Charger Reliability and Reduce Downtime

An SLA sets clear expectations for uptime and reliability, and therefore helps ensure that your charging stations remain operational. An EV charging SLA will often include standard regular maintenance and support, to ensure good working condition of the chargers and help prevent issues before they arise.

Ultimately, your contract helps you provide a robust and reliable EV charging network for your fleet.

SLAs Help Fleet Managers Understand Performance Metrics 

SLAs establish specific performance metrics, such as response times for maintenance, maximum downtime limits, and repair timelines. These metrics provide a clear benchmark for both you and your charge point operator, which facilitates better service management and accountability. 

An SLA Guarantees Legal and Financial Protection

Because an SLA outlines the responsibilities and obligations of all parties, they protect you and your charge point operator from disputes and financial losses resulting from service failures. 

Are SLAs for Business EV Charging Infrastructure a Legal Requirement?

There is no legal requirement to have an SLA. However, charge points are electrical appliances, and if you decide to go it alone you have sole responsibility to meet health and safety requirements.

In addition, you run the risk of invalidating your business liability insurance. If you do not take the necessary steps to maintain your EV charging infrastructure and the worst happens resulting in injury, you may not be covered by your insurance.

In short, you could be risking the safety of your employees and the reputation of your business if you do not have a comprehensive service level agreements in place.

Can I Rely on the Manufacturer’s Warranty Instead?

Typically, the charger manufacturer’s warranty is a return-to-base agreement. This means that if a charger breaks, you must wait for it to be removed, sent back to the OEM, repaired and reinstalled. Often, businesses simply cannot afford that amount of downtime.

Mer is an authorised partner for its charge point suppliers. This means we are permitted to repair the chargers, and we also stock the spare parts in our warehouse.

A customer relying on a warranty will have their charger shipped back to mainland Europe for repair while a customer who has taken out an SLA will have their charger repaired on site, or at our UK facility.

What About My Local Electrician?

It is unlikely that your local electrician will be authorised to repair chargers; they will not have access to the pass codes required to access the firmware.

The electrician will probably not carry spare parts in stock or have a relationship with the charge point manufacturer, and even if they can secure a replacement part, they cannot set it up without the necessary codes.

Overall, this leads to delays in getting the chargers back online, and extended downtime.

How Often Should My EV Service Level Agreement be Reviewed?

You should regularly review your SLA to ensure it remains relevant and is fit for purpose. The frequency of that review schedule should be agreed from the outset.

What Does an EV Service Level Agreement from Mer Cover?

As part of Mer’s SLA, we offer our business customers:

• Inspection of each charger every six months where we inspect for damage and conduct tests for safety and functionality. Think of it like an MOT for your car – a health check. It includes conducting a full electrical test on the residual current device (RCD), the life-saving component designed to prevent electrocution.
• Unlimited engineer callouts. The first engineer visit is always free because it is covered by your plan.
• Guaranteed times for completion of repairs, so you have peace of mind that your chargers will be quickly back on stream.
• Firmware updates.

But perhaps most importantly, our SLA will give you reassurance.  

We are experts in Kempower and Alphitronic EV charging technology – our manufacturer of choice – and enter all agreements fully committed to supporting our customers and the infrastructure whatever may occur. We have in-house engineers and a network of Mer trained partners to improve response times.

At Mer, we offer an SLA and an SLA+.

The SLA+ is a bespoke offering tailored to the customer’s response time requirements and specific site(s), which leads to increased response times.

Learn More About Mer’s Service Level Agreements

An SLA is an integral part of your toolkit for delivering a high-quality EV charging service; it protects you in the face of potential issues with the infrastructure.

Our experts can share everything you need to know about the pricing and implementation of our EV charging SLA.