EV Charging – are we heading in the wrong direction?

All of us in the industry have an appreciation of the link between battery electric vehicle (BEV) take-up in terms of sales and the confidence that buyers have in being able to recharge them easily and conveniently if they take the plunge.  As battery range extends from the 100-150km of early models in real world conditions to up to 400km today, this puts more focus on charging rather than the actual range.  BEVs are technically on the cusp of being a real alternative to a combustion engine car as long as the battery can be recharged when needed on longer runs, and periodically during normal usage.  Technical developments will maintain this, although at some point, the opportunity to have a smaller, lighter, cheaper high-performance battery that still offers 400km usable range will presumably start to push back on the quest for longer and longer range.

Government has forced the industry in Europe and some other markets to put more sales emphasis on BEVs through progressively tighter emissions standards accompanied by large fines if the actual sales fail to deliver the average emissions performance set as a target for each brand.  Ignoring the very real but short-term supply issues caused by semi-conductor shortages, this pressure is still running ahead of actual customer demand in many markets, and the mismatch is partly related to concerns about charging infrastructure.  Charging anxiety has replaced range anxiety in the minds of potential buyers.

Governments have largely left it to market forces to drive the installation of charging infrastructure, but this then becomes a ‘chicken and egg’ situation – without the infrastructure, customers will not buy, without the buyers, infrastructure operators will not invest.  It is inevitable that with planning and electrical supply hurdles up front, and an installed cost per rapid charger that is likely to be over €50,000 per station, fees can be high and the quality of maintenance suffer from a cost rather than service focus, as the operators try to get cash positive as soon as possible.

Against this backdrop, the UK Government announced a new strategy ten days ago that is aimed at providing 300,000 public chargers by 2030, ten times the number today, and five times the number of fuel pumps on our filling stations today.  Whilst there is some Government funding promised in the strategy, the initial money is limited to a £10 million pilot which will be allocated through a competitive process amongst local municipalities.  The main funding will come from the commercial operators including BP who in parallel announced a £1 billion investment in UK charging infrastructure.

A few days after the announcement, I had a conversation with Alan Winslade of Co Charger, most easily described as an AirBNB for BEV charging.  Their model is based on the fact that there are over 300,000 chargepoints installed in private homes in the UK, most of which are used for only a fraction of the day, and if the owners are prepared to give access to a few neighbours in return for a fee that they set, this becomes a win-win.  As a former AirBNB Superhost and home chargepoint owner, I can absolutely see how this would work in my own circumstances, whilst recognising that for others it would be too intrusive or inconvenient.  However, if such an approach was adopted by only a minority of chargepoint owners, and extended to fleet operators who are progressively switching to BEVs, but have their fleet out all day and charging bays empty, this would dramatically change the infrastructure needs for day to day usage.

I don’t have a view on how the other European markets are addressing this challenge at the detailed level, but it seems to me that there is a much more refined capacity planning challenge ahead than simply looking at BEV parc per charger.  How are the BEVs being used, and how will this evolve as drivers become more confident in completing longer journeys without charging concerns?  As battery and charging technology improves, we potentially need fewer chargers to deliver the same cumulative range to the visiting cars.  If we become over-dependent on ultra-high speed chargers like the ABB one shown in this blog’s image (100km of range in under three minutes), this will reduce the effective battery life, so will increase future charging requirements.

The industry and our customers have been pushed into electrification by regulators, with an accelerated timeframe driven by the genuine pressures of climate change.  In that rush, it seems that there is a lack of joined-up thinking, and a risk that we will end up with a very uneven investment in charging infrastructure that will hinder the effective adoption of BEVs.