It is much more difficult to convert an Electric Vehicle for wheelchair access. This is due to the vehicle battery location, under the vehicle floor. The design of current electric vehicles make them less suitable for WAV conversion, and generally result in less internal space for the wheelchair user to travel.

Our in-depth article looks at the challenges of converting the current generation of EVs for wheelchair access, and looks at what the options may be in the future. 

Electric Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles are typically more expensive to buy than equivalent petrol or diesel vehicles. This is because of the higher purchase costs of electric vehicles. The additional technology and large batteries are currently more expensive for manufacturers to produce, meaning higher purchase costs for electric vehicle buyers.

However, electric vehicles (and therefore electric WAVs) tend to be cheaper to run, with lower running costs and less maintenance.

WAV convertors rely on suitable vehicles coming to the market from vehicle manufacturers to be able to convert them for wheelchair access. As more EVs come to market hopefully we will see more electric vehicles that are suitable for wheelchair passengers.

Brotherwood conduct WAV feasibility studies on most new vehicles as they come to market and so will always be among the first to design new WAV conversions for electric vehicles as they become available.