The RAC has begun rolling out a faster version of its on-board breakdown van charger points to help electric car drivers get moving again quickly. 

Pitched as a modern-day equivalent of a fuel can for electric cars, the RAC’s EV Boost system has been uprated from 3.5kW to 5kW to increase the speed of charge for members who either run out of charge or encounter faulty charge points. The new charger is capable of adding around 10 miles of range in around 30 minutes or less. 

The RAC says it is on track to have 200 patrol vans – around a fifth of its fleet – fitted with EV Boost chargers by the end of the year with 130 of those being the new faster 5kW units. 

The unit avoids the need for breakdown vans having to carry heavy and bulky batteries that have to be re-charged after every use, or having to put the out-of-charge vehicle on to a flatbed recovery truck in order to take it to a charge point. 

Now having succeeded in producing the new 5kW RAC EV Boost unit work is underway on perfecting a 7.5kW charger which the RAC believe will offer the best possible balance of cost, efficiency and charging time at the roadside. 

RAC chief operations director Paul Coulton said: “Having been the first breakdown company to come up with a practical and efficient solution to giving an emergency charge to a flat EV and being the only roadside assistance company in the UK that can use this pioneering British-designed technology, we’re really excited to be speeding up the charger to 5kW so we can save members even more time. And we aren’t stopping there as a 7.5kW version is our next target.” 

While the chargers are good news, rival breakdown provider the AA has today released figures showing that the number of electric car drivers running out of charge has halved in the past two years.

Electric Vehicle ‘out of charge’ call outs halved in two years, say AA

The EV Boost gadget can deliver a 5kW charge, but takes around 30 minutes to give 10 miles