Accessibility and PAS 1899
People with disabilities affecting mobility are often dependent on their cars. Motability, a national charity which uses public funds to ensure such people can access cars, has offered strong incentives for its users to choose electric cars over fuel in recent years, and its survey published September 2025 found that 13% of their scheme customers use an EV as their main car, compared to 4% of the general public.
Many drivers on the Motability scheme have found that the public charging network is not accessible to them, and sentiment about public charging amongst Motability customers is more negative than amongst the public in general.
PAS 1899 is a standard for chargepoint accessibility which was designed by the British Standards Institute in 2022, sponsored by Motability and the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. The standard is not mandatory.
The full specification is here, while the two-page summary is here. You may see it referred to as "BSI PAS 1899:2022", or with a new year after any future update.
Contents
Requirements
The specification has a large number of core requirements which are listed in a checklist seven pages long (Annex E.1, p48-55). We have summarised a selection below but it is important to emphasise that this is non-exhaustive.
Physical chargepoint design
- Chargepoint socket/outlet height between 800 mm and 950 mm
- Tethered charging cable handle height between 800 mm and 950 mm
- Screen between 800 mm and 1,300 mm height
- Buttons or touch screen between 800 mm and 1,200 mm height
- Payment terminal lowest point between 800 mm and 1,000 mm height
- Cable long enough to accommodate different sizes of vehicle and different parking positions
- Cable not a trip hazard whether in use or not
- Free cable length at most 7.5 m when not in use
- Upward force required to remove cable does not exceed 60 N (force required to hold up around 6kg)
- Diameter of chargepoint grip between 19 mm and 43 mm
- Chargepoint connector or socket cover can be removed with less than 60 N force
- Touch screen titled upwards at an angle between 0° and 20°
- Screen to meet screen accessibility standards, including consideration of visual impairments and colour blindness
- Screen to minimise glare effects
Chargepoint placement
- Placement of chargepoint adheres to existing standards for parking space positioning
- Minimum space of 1,200 mm (preferably 1,800 mm) in front of the point of access to chargepoints
- If there is no level access point between the car and the chargepoint on footway level, then chargepoint placement and orientation ensures access and reach of chargepoint components
- Smooth, stable, slip-resistant, well-drained, uniform ground surface
- Visual contrast between chargepoint and surrounding surfaces in wet and dry conditions
- For chargepoints installed in a concrete base, base extended at surface level to maintain an area for usage and access
- Where there are unavoidable low-level obstacles or the chargepoint is at footway level when the operation is at carriageway level, all chargepoint components must be within 220 mm reach
- Visual contrast of any low-level obstacles
- Point of access clear of plants, foliage and shrubbery
- Any impact protection barriers to be no more than 220 mm from the chargepoint
- Height of any impact protection barriers no more than 600 mm
- Any protective bollards adjacent to chargepoints at least 1,000 mm from ground level
- Space between any protective bollards at least 1,400 mm
- Extreme points of any protective bollard within 300 mm in front of chargepoint
Streetscape and public realm around the chargepoint
- Minimum spacing of 1,200 mm between chargepoints
- Siting of public chargepoints and impact protection easy to detect with cane, and good visual contract
- Where public chargepoints are at footway level and its components cannot be accessed from carriageway level, there must a dropped kerb within 20 m
Digital platforms and information provision for chargepoints
- Chargepoints supported by app
- Content of any CPO apps fits screen accessibility standards
- Data on chargepoint accessibility available to consumers
Supplementary good practice
There is further guidance on lighting, signage, larger-size parking spaces, shelter from rain.
Implementation and mandation
It is not mandatory for public chargepoints to meet PAS 1899, although they must meet the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023.
There are some initiatives set up to track accessibility of public chargepoints, such as ChargeSafe, who are partnered with Motability. Fastned, Osprey, Swarco, and SMS, Source and GRIDSERVE have achieved ChargeSafe Accredited Partner status.
Some local authorities include PAS 1899 compliance as a requirement for tenders to access government-funded public chargepoint programmes. For example, they may say that they require a certain percentage of chargepoints under the partnership to meet the requirements.
In November 2025, the government backed an amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill which would set the government up to make PAS 1899 mandatory in future, should progress remain slow.
Technical Working Group review 2025
In 2024, a technical working group composed of organisations in the charging industry and bodies representing disabled people began a review of PAS 1899 and its implementation.
In November 2025, the group published a summary report of their review, with the following recommendations:
- Revising PAS 1899 to clarify uncertainties
- Revising some technical requirements to be more achievable in practice
- Restructuring to separate sections on on-street and off-street requirements, with a smaller set of core requirements for on-street chargepoints and recognition of variability of on-street charging circumstances
- Clarification of specific requirements of designated accessible parking bays
- Consideration of innovations in lamppost chargers and flat-and-flush chargers
- A data standard on accessibility-related data
The review was informed by Motability surveys which identified the space around chargepoints as the biggest challenge for disabled drivers.
The review recommended that the Motability Foundation and OZEV engage the BSI to start the revision process, so we can expect a revised version of PAS 1899 soon.