The EV Charging Conundrum

As the world adopts Electric Vehicles at breakneck speeds, there is a supply-and-demand problem; the supply and demand challenge has less to do with the number of EVs being manufactured, but of the number of publicly available charging stations available to charge EVs on-the-go. 

Today, 20% to 40% of EV owners do not have access to home charging. Though living in stand-alone homes and villas are commonplace in North America, many living in European and Asian cities live in high-rise apartment blocks which don’t have access to designated parking where chargers can be installed. Thus, governments and investors around the world are racing to invest and build public electric vehicle charging solutions to meet current and future demand.

Where’s the Juice?

Getting OEMs to design sleek electric vehicles and encouraging customers to buy them is just half of the battle. Once customers own EVs, there is some level of expectation that public charging infrastructure will be made available. And to that end, major world economies are on a tight schedule when it comes to rolling out EV chargers. The US set aside US$7.5 billion of the US$1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (2021) to grow its public charging network to 500,000 by 2030. The task is no small feat; it would mean that the US would need to grow its’ public EV charging points from its current stock of 136,513 by nearly 3.7X in well under a decade. 

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in the UK has called for government intervention to facilitate a transition to electric vehicles for all drivers and stimulate investment in nationwide charging infrastructure. According to the SMMT, forecasts indicate that the UK will need between 300,000 to 720,000 charging points by 2030 – necessitating the installation of more than 100 new chargers every day until 2030 to meet just the lower limit.

An EU-appointed commission has suggested that countries aim for 10 EVs per public EV charge point as a healthy ratio. Germany is targeting 1 million new public chargers while France has announced 7 million public and private chargers by 2030. However, even with all the policies and targets set by governments, only 11 million public chargers are expected to be added by 2030 worldwide - which is not enough to meet the demand of 135 million electric vehicles expected to be on the road.

Infobytes: World Forecasts for Number of Chargers (Public and Private)

A Race for Charging

In 2021, China had the largest network of EV chargers with over 2.6 million units; of this, 1.14 million were public, and the larger part of 1.46 million were private, only available to private hotel guests or at private workplaces. In 2022, China managed to add an additional 626,000 chargers to its national public infrastructure, which is a monumental feat. Europe lags behind, but still also managed to add 190,000 public chargers to its infrastructure, while the US added just under 19,000 public chargers. 

Consumers are taking it upon themselves to purchase and install chargers at home, while businesses are increasingly installing charge points at workplaces. In a global consumer survey conducted by Deloitte last year, respondents in Japan and the US were least likely to expect to charge their cars at work; while 1 in 5 Chinese consumers responded that they expected to charge their EV most often at work. 

By 2030, 135 million private chargers are expected to be added to the global stock, over tenfold of the number of public chargers available today. In 2018, 20% of EV owners in the US did not have access to home chargers. Today, more than 40% of car owners living in large urban cities in Germany don’t have private parking spaces where installation of a home charger is an option. Apartment dwellers living in urban areas are finding it increasingly difficult to charge their EVs without a designated parking space, and in some countries like Japan, getting building approvals to install such a system in a parking garage is out of the question. Let’s not forget, the added complexity of long-term renters looking to install a charging station on a home that they do not own. 

Infobyte: Number of Public Charge Points in China, Europe, and USA (2021-2022)

A Sample of Notable Charging Networks

Infobyte: A Sample of Notable Charging Networks

Over 85% of charging stations are installed in private locations globally. EV owners who do not have chargers at home share one common concern, range anxiety, which is the fear of not finding a station in time before an electric car runs out of charge. Fortunately, there have been a number of start-ups in the e-mobility space that have tried to alleviate these concerns and address the issue by helping drivers to find public and private charging stations on their travel routes. 

Startups Easing Range Anxiety: Connecting EV Drivers with Charging Solutions

PlugShare	Plugshare is a platform for EV drivers to locate charging stations with over 700,000 charging stations. It is the largest EV driver community where users share tips, reviews and photos. It was established in 2009 and is headquartered in El Segundio, California.
ElectroMaps	Electromaps is an application that helps EV owners find charging stations, add comments and manage payments. It has ~410, 000 charging stations and about 511,177 users. It was established in 2009, acquired by Wallbox in 2020, and is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain.
Chargemap	Chargemap is a website and application for locating charging stations. It has over 500,000 charging stations in Europe and its community consists of 1.562 million drivers. It was established 2015 and is headquartered in Starsbourg, France.
EVmatch	EVmatch is a peer-to-peer charging network that connects EV drivers with private charging station owners. It was established in 2016 and headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
CHRG Network	CHRG Network is the “Airbnb” for charging stations. It helps EV drivers find stations and allows charging station owners to monetize their underutilized stations. It was established in 2017 in Vilnius, Lithuania. By 2021 it had 33,047 charging stations across 10 markets
ChargeHub	ChargeHub is a website and application that helps users find charging stations and plan trips in North America. It has over 100,000 users. It was launched in 2012 in Quebec, Canada.

 

Charging Incentives

Here are the various charging incentives that currently exist across key EV markets across the world, researched until the end of June 2023.

Infobyte: Charging Incentives for Global Electric Vehicle Markets

Extending Driving Range

Another more direct way to alleviate some pressure on the number of charging stations needed, or to alleviate “range anxiety”, is to increase EV battery and energy storage technology to increase driving ranges. 

Fortunately, driving ranges have been steadily increasing over the years, from a maximum range of 94 miles in 2011 to a maximum range of 520 miles in 2022. That’s a median range increase of almost 3.4X. Driving range has also nearly doubled between 2018 and 2022. That range is expected to increase further, as significant investment is being poured into battery research. 

Infobyte: All-Electric Car Range (Miles)

Affordability of Battery Packs

Batteries constitute a huge component of EV manufacturing costs; and prices of battery packs have plummeted from $732/kWh in 2013 to $141/kWh in 2021, before slightly increasing back up again to $151 kWh in 2022. The decline in Lithium-ion battery prices can be attributed to changes in pack design and to more energy dense batteries. 

The recent increase in price has stemmed from rising raw material prices and battery component prices, but overall battery pack prices are forecasted to decline further into the future. Estimates place lithium-ion battery pack costs to less than US $100/kWh in 2026, as lithium extraction and refining capacities continue to increase. 

Infobyte: Lithium - Ion Battery Pack Prices (Real 2022 $/ Kwh)

Explore the Following Stories: These articles spotlight key players in the lithium-ion and alternative battery and energy storage solutions industry within the electric vehicle market.

• The World’s Largest Lithium Producer: Albemarle Corp Is Mining for the Future of Electric Mobility
• Silicon Anode Technology to Supercharge EV Battery Range by 20%
• Ubitricity helps Charge your EV by Connecting to Street Side Lamp Posts

To read more about the state of the electric vehicles revolution in 2023 – read the full report here.