Shared depot charging in the UK: the options.
Shared depot charging lets one business use another's depot chargers. In the UK you can do it through software that lets a host choose its partners (Evata), your own charger software (Fuuse, FPS Operate), a direct agreement, a network on a fleet card (Paua Share), a bus operator's depots (First Charge, Stagecoach's Chargd), or a depot built and run for you (Voltempo DepotCharge, Shell's eDepot+).
Every option, side by side.
What each one is, who it suits, how visiting vehicles get in and pay, and whose chargers it uses. Each name links to its full entry and sources.
| Option | Who it suits | How visitors get in and pay | Whose chargers |
|---|---|---|---|
| EvataSoftware for hosts and the businesses they choose | Hosts with idle chargers who want to pick partners and set the price; the fleets they partner with | Partners the host chooses; book in the Evata app, charge by app or card; monthly invoice | The host's existing chargers |
| Fuuse and FPS OperateCharger software with sharing built in | Hosts who want sharing in their charger software | Set by the host in the software | The host's existing chargers |
| A direct agreementTwo businesses, their own terms | Two businesses sharing a few chargers | Whatever they agree: often RFID fobs and a spreadsheet | The host's existing chargers |
| Paua ShareA shared depot network on a fleet card | Fleets with a Paua card; hosts who want visitors vetted for them | Approved by Paua; Paua card or app | The host's existing chargers |
| First Charge and Stagecoach's ChargdBus operators' depots, opened to other fleets | Van and HGV fleets near those depots | Pre-arranged access; fleet cards, a swipe card or automatic start | The bus operator's |
| Voltempo DepotChargeMegawatt depot charging, funded and run for you | HGV operators who want charging funded and built | Book and pay with fleet charge cards, including Allstar Chargepass | New megawatt chargers, installed by Voltempo |
| Shell's eDepot+A depot on Shell's heavy-duty charging network | Heavy-duty fleets working with Shell | Identified third-party vehicles; Shell Card | Delivered by Shell and SBRS |
What to compare.
Start with whether you're sharing your own chargers or looking for somewhere to charge. Then look at these.
Who decides who gets in
The host, a network that vets visiting fleets, or the operator whose depot it is.
How visitors get in and pay
A fleet card, an app, a booking, or fobs agreed between two businesses.
Vehicle size and power
HGVs need high-power bays and room to manoeuvre. Vans and cars don't.
Whose chargers
Some options use chargers you already have. Others build new ones for you, and share in what visitors pay.
Who sets the price
The host, the network, or a split of the profit.
Grant-funded chargers
Chargers funded by the Depot Charging Scheme and shared with other fleets must be priced to recover costs for at least three years.
Seven options, in detail.
Each entry is described from the company's own public pages, linked underneath. Evata's is ours.
- Software for hosts and the businesses they choose
Evata
This is usA business with chargers that sit idle shares them with businesses it picks, at the price it sets. Those businesses' drivers find the depot, book a slot and charge in the Evata app or with an Evata card, and their business gets one monthly invoice.
SuitsBusinesses whose chargers sit idle part of the day and want to choose who uses them. Fleets whose drivers charge at those partners' depots.
How it works
- The host offers its chargers to the businesses it chooses. Once a business accepts, its drivers see the site in the Evata app
- A price per kWh for AC and DC, peak and off-peak hours, and a rate card for each partner, or the host's own charger-software tariff
- Hosts keep the hours their own vehicles need, and can require drivers to confirm safety instructions and site videos in the app before it lets them book or start a charge
- Evata pays hosts for partners' charging, less its commission, and invoices the charging businesses monthly
Worth knowing
- It uses the chargers a host already has, connected through the software that already runs them. Evata sets up each connection
- Software only: Evata doesn't build, fund or install chargers, and doesn't offer HGV-specific sites
- It isn't an open network: drivers see only the sites of hosts that have partnered with their business
- Evata's prices aren't published on its site
Sources: Evata SHARE · Evata CHARGE
- Charger software with sharing built in
Fuuse and FPS Operate
Charge-point management software runs a host's chargers, and both of these can also run sharing with other fleets on them.
SuitsHosts that want sharing handled in the same system that manages their chargers.
How it works
- Fuuse markets shared depot charging to "increase utilisation and monetise your EV charging infrastructure by sharing it with other fleets", and lets operators set tariffs for different user groups and times of day
- FPS Operate offers Charger Sharing at £10 per charger per month: define available chargers, set pricing for bookings, automated billing
Worth knowing
- Sharing is one feature of the software that runs your chargers, so it suits hosts choosing, or already using, that software
Sources: Fuuse: Return-to-depot fleets · Fuuse · Flexible Power Systems: FPS Operate
- Two businesses, their own terms
A direct agreement
Two businesses agree terms between themselves, and the host lets the visitor's vehicles use its chargers.
SuitsTwo businesses that already know each other, sharing a few chargers.
How it works
- The Energy Saving Trust says that to get started "a simple spreadsheet and fob/RFID activation for the chargers will suffice"
- Agreements are exchanged directly with each business
Worth knowing
- Contracts, access and billing are done by hand. The Energy Saving Trust notes that as it grows, a shared charging network makes the process easier
Source: Energy Saving Trust: Considerations for shared charging
- Bus operators' depots, opened to other fleets
First Charge and Stagecoach's Chargd
Two bus operators open their own depots to other fleets' vans and trucks. You charge at their sites; they aren't a way to share yours.
SuitsVan and HGV fleets that operate near those depots and want high-power charging there.
How it works
- First Charge: First Bus lists 14 depots as live, from Aberdeen to York, with chargers up to 350 kW, "from only 33p per kWh". Access is "private and pre-arranged"
- Chargd: Stagecoach says six depots are live (Inverness, Cambridge, Oxford, Stockton, Ash Grove in London, and Dover), with nine more due later in 2026
- Chargd's chargers are available in the daytime while buses are in service; charging starts automatically or with a swipe card
Worth knowing
- They work with fleet-card networks: Allstar has an agreement for First Charge sites, and Paua is a named Chargd partner
- Stagecoach's Chargd page doesn't list prices
Sources: First Bus: Ultra-rapid EV charging · First Bus: First Charge launch · Allstar: First Charge partnership · Stagecoach: Chargd · Stagecoach: Chargd rollout
- Megawatt depot charging, funded and run for you
Voltempo DepotCharge
Voltempo puts megawatt charging into a haulier's depot ("We fund it, run it, and fill it"). The host's own trucks charge first, and Voltempo sells the spare time to other fleets.
SuitsHGV operators with depot space who want truck charging funded and installed, and the spare capacity sold for them.
How it works
- "Your trucks charge first, always"
- Blocks of up to 1 MW, and Voltempo says it pays 50–100% of the host's standing charge commitment
- Visiting fleets locate, book and pay at participating depots with their existing charge cards, including Allstar Chargepass, through a partnership with Corpay
- First live with Welch Group and Openreach (April 2026); Welch's Duxford hub opened in September 2026 with six high-power bays
Worth knowing
- Voltempo shares in the profit from visiting fleets. Its profit illustrations assume a 50% share, and it offers two commercial models
- Its profit illustrations use its own one-megawatt HyperChargers
Sources: Voltempo · Voltempo: commercial models · Voltempo: Corpay partnership · Voltempo: live rollout with Welch Group and Openreach · Voltempo: Welch's Duxford hub
- A depot on Shell's heavy-duty charging network
Shell's eDepot+
Part of Shell's heavy-duty charging offer, delivered by SBRS: a "private charging location accessible to identified third-party vehicles behind the fence". A semi-public option opens a site to the public during set hours.
SuitsHeavy-duty fleets working with Shell that want to let in their subcontractors, suppliers and partners.
How it works
- Operators can open a location to third parties such as subcontractors, suppliers and partners
- A semi-public site is open to the public during specific hours, such as at night or off-peak
- Drivers use the Shell Card, which covers the rest of Shell's charging network too
Worth knowing
- It's part of a Shell network that brings public, semi-public and depot charging together, so it suits fleets already on the Shell Card
Sources: Shell: Heavy-duty charging · SBRS: Integrated charging network
Match it to your situation.
- Your chargers sit idle part of the day, and you want to choose who uses them and at what price
- Evata. You pick the businesses and set the price; their drivers book and charge in the app, and Evata does the billing.
- You want sharing inside the software that runs your chargers
- Fuuse or FPS Operate. Sharing as a feature of your charger management.
- You're sharing a few chargers with one business you know
- A direct agreement. A spreadsheet and RFID fobs can be enough to start.
- You want depot charging on the fleet card you use for public charging
- Paua Share. Approved depots and public charging on one Paua account.
- You run vans or HGVs near a bus depot and need high-power charging
- First Charge or Chargd. The bus operators' own depots, opened to other fleets.
- You have depot space and want megawatt truck charging funded and built
- Voltempo DepotCharge. Voltempo installs and runs it, your trucks charge first, and it sells the spare time.
- You work with Shell and want to let your subcontractors charge at your depot
- Shell's eDepot+. A private location open to identified third-party vehicles, on the Shell Card.
Questions buyers ask.
- What is shared depot charging?
- A business opens its depot chargers to other businesses' vehicles during the hours its own fleet doesn't need them. Who gets in, when, at what price and how they pay depend on the arrangement: a network, a bus operator's scheme, software or a direct agreement.
- What are the alternatives to Paua Share?
- Evata, charger software with sharing built in such as Fuuse or FPS Operate, direct agreements between two businesses, bus operators' own depots (First Bus's First Charge and Stagecoach's Chargd), Voltempo DepotCharge and Shell's eDepot+. Which fits depends on whether you're hosting or charging, and on your vehicles.
- Can I share chargers funded by the Depot Charging Scheme?
- Yes, but if you share them with other fleet operators, the scheme requires the price to be based on cost recovery for at least three years. DfT's documents give different start dates for those three years, so check your grant funding agreement.
- Do I need new chargers to share?
- Not always. Most of the options here work with chargers a host already has. Voltempo builds and funds new megawatt charging for HGV depots.
- Can I share with just one other business?
- Yes. A direct agreement works for one partner, and with Evata the host chooses each business it shares with.
- Who wrote this page?
- Evata, which is one of the options. We've described the others from their own public pages, linked under each entry, as they read on 2 October 2026. If anything has changed, tell us and we'll correct it.
Evata wrote this page. Every statement about another company comes from the page linked here, read on 2 October 2026. Prices and terms change, so check with each company before you decide.
- Fuuse: Return-to-depot fleets
- Fuuse
- Flexible Power Systems: FPS Operate
- Energy Saving Trust: Considerations for shared charging
- Paua: Paua Share
- Paua: Paua Access
- Paua: First Bus depots join Paua Share, 21 May 2025
- Paua: Motus and Ford & Slater open depot charging, 16 Mar 2026
- Paua: PINS shared depots project
- First Bus: Ultra-rapid EV charging
- First Bus: First Charge launch, 9 Jul 2025
- Allstar: First Charge partnership, 12 Nov 2025
- Stagecoach: Chargd
- Stagecoach: Chargd rollout, 15 Jul 2026
- Voltempo
- Voltempo: commercial models
- Voltempo: Corpay partnership, 7 Apr 2026
- Voltempo: live rollout with Welch Group and Openreach, 21 Apr 2026
- Voltempo: Welch's Duxford hub, 23 Sep 2026
- Shell: Heavy-duty charging
- SBRS: Integrated charging network
- GOV.UK Find a Grant: Depot Charging Scheme
Chargers that sit idle?
Talk to us about sharing them with the businesses you choose, at the price you set.