Charge RosterDownload the spreadsheet
Download the workplace EV charger booking spreadsheet template
The workbook is designed for Microsoft Excel and uses ordinary tables, formulas, dropdowns and conditional formatting rather than macros.
It contains four sheets:
| Sheet | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Instructions | Setup steps and suggested operating rules |
| Chargers | List of chargers, sites and physical parking locations |
| Bookings | One row per reservation, with status, duration and overlap check |
| Summary | Active bookings, booked hours, conflicts and booked hours by charger |
The template is deliberately small. It is meant to help a workplace test a structured booking process, not become a home-built charging platform.
When is a spreadsheet a sensible solution?
A spreadsheet is reasonable when:
- the workplace has only a few chargers;
- bookings are not changing every few minutes;
- one person or a small team owns the process;
- employees can access the shared file reliably;
- the main problem is avoiding double bookings;
- nobody expects live charger information from the sheet.
At that stage, introducing a dedicated system may create more process than it removes.
The purpose of this template is to make the manual option good enough to evaluate honestly.
Step 1: list the chargers
Open the Chargers sheet and replace the example rows with the real workplace resources.
Use names that employees can connect to the physical parking area.
For example:
| Charger | Site | Location / bay |
|---|---|---|
| Charger 1 | Main office | Bay A1 |
| Charger 2 | Main office | Bay A2 |
| Charger 3 | Warehouse | Visitor side |
Avoid naming several chargers only EV charger or Wallbox. The booking needs to tell the driver where to go.
The charger list is used by the booking dropdown so spelling stays consistent across reservations.
Step 2: add one row per booking
The Bookings sheet has these columns:
- Date
- Start
- End
- Charger
- Employee
- Status
- Duration
- Conflict check
- Notes
A typical row might be:
| Date | Start | End | Charger | Employee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-14 | 09:00 | 11:00 | Charger 1 | Alex | Confirmed |
The duration is calculated automatically.
Step 3: use status instead of deleting history
The template supports:
ConfirmedTentativeCancelled
A cancelled booking stays in the workbook but does not count toward conflict detection or booked-hour totals.
That is preferable to deleting the row because it leaves a lightweight record of returned capacity.
Do not interpret this as a full audit trail. Anyone with edit access to the spreadsheet may still be able to change history unless your document platform provides its own version history and permissions.
Step 4: resolve rows marked CONFLICT
The workbook compares active rows for the same charger and date.
A booking is flagged CONFLICT when another non-cancelled booking overlaps it.
For example:
- Alex: Charger 1, 09:00–11:00
- Sam: Charger 1, 10:30–12:00
Both rows should be treated as a conflict because the same charger is promised to two people between 10:30 and 11:00.
Back-to-back bookings are allowed:
- Alex: 09:00–11:00
- Sam: 11:00–13:00
The formula only checks the reservations that have actually been entered. If an employee forgets to add a booking, the spreadsheet cannot know the charger is needed.
Step 5: agree a few rules outside the spreadsheet
A conflict-free sheet is not automatically a fair charging policy.
Decide:
- how far ahead employees may reserve;
- the normal maximum duration;
- whether recurring bookings are allowed;
- how many future bookings one employee can hold;
- what employees should do when they no longer need a booking;
- whether the vehicle must move when the reserved period ends;
- whether any priority cases exist.
Put those rules somewhere every employee can find them. The Instructions sheet contains a short starter list, but the organisation should adapt it to actual charging needs.
Step 6: review the summary rather than relying on anecdotes
The Summary sheet counts:
- active bookings;
- total booked hours;
- conflict rows;
- cancelled bookings;
- booked hours per charger.
That can help answer questions such as:
- Is one charger carrying most reservations?
- Are conflicts becoming common?
- Is booked time increasing?
- Are cancellations returning a meaningful amount of capacity?
The summary still measures recorded bookings, not actual electricity delivered or physical charger utilisation.
A booking from 09:00 to 11:00 contributes two booked hours even if the employee never plugs in.
Use one shared file, not copies in email
The fastest way to destroy the value of a booking spreadsheet is to create several versions of it.
Keep one authoritative file in a shared location such as SharePoint, OneDrive or Google Drive and give employees the appropriate editing access.
Avoid processes such as:
- emailing
EV-charging-final-v3.xlsxaround the company; - keeping a local copy at reception and another in Facilities;
- asking employees to message an administrator who then updates the sheet later;
- maintaining one sheet per employee.
The single shared file should be the schedule.
A spreadsheet is not a calendar
Compared with Outlook or Google Calendar, the spreadsheet has a disadvantage: employees do not automatically receive a normal calendar event or reminder just because a booking row exists.
If reminders matter, the workplace must add another process or use a calendar-based approach instead.
Compare the alternatives:
- How to book workplace EV chargers with Outlook
- How to book workplace EV chargers with Google Calendar
A spreadsheet is not live charger status
Do not create false precision by adding columns such as Available now unless someone or something is actually maintaining them in real time.
This template records scheduled access.
It does not know:
- whether a car is plugged in;
- whether charging has completed;
- whether a charger has gone offline;
- how many kilowatt-hours were delivered;
- whether the car left when its reservation ended.
Those are different data sources and, where required, normally belong to charger/CPMS telemetry or an explicit operational process.
Where spreadsheet booking usually starts to fail
The warning signs are operational rather than technical.
Employees edit the wrong cells
Even with dropdowns and protected structure, a general spreadsheet is easier to break than a purpose-built workflow.
People forget to cancel
Unused reservations remain visible as occupied unless somebody changes the row.
Employees cannot easily find the best charger
They scan the table rather than asking a system, “What can I book from 10:30 for two hours?”
Fair-use rules are hard to enforce
The workbook can flag overlapping bookings, but it does not automatically stop one person making every desirable morning reservation.
There is no waitlist
When all suitable periods are full, the spreadsheet does not naturally record who wants the next cancelled slot.
Unmet demand is invisible
Someone who opens the sheet, finds no suitable time and closes it leaves no data behind.
This is an important limitation. A full schedule can look like successful utilisation even when several employees are consistently unable to charge.
Administration becomes a job
If Facilities spends time cleaning rows, reconciling conflicts, messaging employees and explaining which version is current, the spreadsheet is no longer the simple solution.
When should you replace the spreadsheet?
Move to a dedicated charger-booking workflow when:
- conflicts happen repeatedly despite the formula;
- employees need to search across several chargers;
- bookings need automated duration or advance-booking rules;
- fairness needs more than a written policy;
- cancellations should immediately release capacity;
- the workplace needs a queue or waitlist;
- administrators need to see unmet demand;
- several sites use the same process;
- staff are coordinating around the sheet in Teams, Slack or email.
The spreadsheet should save work. Once it creates work, its job is done.
Where Charge Roster fits
Charge Roster replaces the manual row-entry workflow with a charger-specific schedule. Employees find available charging periods and manage their own reservations, while workplace rules and demand stay connected to the same booking process.
The product still coordinates time rather than controlling the charger hardware.