Transportation

EV charging stations: Opportunities and challenges

The U.S. will need more than 1.7 million charging stations by 2030, surpassing government targets under the current federal initiative. Retailers and property owners have a role to play in addressing opportunities and challenges.

Image provided by iStock.

December 7, 2022 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Electric vehicle charging stations are one of the fastest growing self-service offerings in the U.S. as the government pours billions into a nationwide charging network and the number of EVs continues to soar.

As a result, the U.S. will need more than 1.7 million charging stations by 2030, according to a recent industry study, an estimate that significantly exceeds the 500,000 charging stations the government has targeted under its federal funding law.

And while government investment offers opportunities to EV charging equipment manufacturers, retailers and property owners, the movement faces uncertainty caused by supply chain challenges.

Attendees at the recent NACS Show in Las Vegas received an overview of the opportunities and challenges related to EV charging stations during a session, "Reality of EV Transitions," focusing on the findings of the recent study.

"We'll need a minimum of 1.7 million public charging stations to meet the demand for charging by 2030," said Mark Boyadjis, director, advanced mobility, EY-Parthenon, an Ernst & Young global strategy consulting division, who led the study.

Study unpacks the demand

The Fuels Institute, based in Alexandria, Virginia, published the EV Charger Deployment Optimization study in August to model what the demand for EV chargers will look like over the next 10 years. The study was designed to address uncertainty over how fast EVs will gain significant market share, how many chargers will be needed, when and where they will be needed and what types of chargers will be needed.

John Eichberger, executive director of the Fuels Institute, co-presented along with Boyadjis.

Mark Boyadjis and John Eichberger discuss the changing status of the nation's EV charging station during the recent NACS show in Las Vegas.

Boyadjis is skeptical that the federal government's goal of 500,000 publicly accessible EV charging stations by 2030 will meet the nation's needs. He presented a chart showing the number of EV registrations in 2021 versus those expected in 2030 by state. California will hold the largest single state share, the numbers indicated, but that share is expected to fall from nearly 40% of the total at present to less than 25% in 2030.

"That tells you there's going to be a massive amount of uptake…throughout the rest of the nation," Boyadjis said.

The study used a ratio of one EV charging station for every 10.4 EV vehicles as a guideline for charting the demand for charging stations, which he said is an internationally recognized ratio. Hence, the expected 18.1 million EV vehicles will require 1.7 million charging stations.

"There's not a single automaker out there putting a dime of investment into internal combustion anymore," he said. "They've all started to invest dramatically in electrification and those trends are not nearly going to stop any time soon."

A role for retailers, property owners

The speakers noted that retail businesses and property owners have an important role to play in addressing the demand for EV charging stations.

The federal funding program distributes funds to the states, which have been charged with mapping where the stations are needed and distributing funds to EV charging station contractors.

"It's not just the government that is building out this funding, it's people like yourself that are investing in infrastructure because you see the demand," Boyadjis said.

Challenges arise

The supply chain presents a challenge to the expected growth of both EVs and charging stations.

"This is the first time in 20 to 30 years (that) there has been a supply-constrained sales environment, where people cannot buy vehicles that they want because they cannot get the parts to build them, etc.," Boyadjis said. "Semiconductors are impossible to find. The battery materials are impossible to find."

If the supply chain does not get fixed, the entire country will go without being serviced.

The EV advocates, behind closed doors, acknowledge these challenges, Eichberger said.

What to consider before investing

While equipment and vehicle manufacturers must address the supply chain, retailers and property owners interested in investing in EV charging stations must understand their particular market's needs — not just those of today, but in the future — and the capacity of the nearby electric grid.

"The individual location might be more oriented towards throughput, in which case you might want to have more high powered DC fast charging," Boyadjis said.

"You pull up to a high powered charger expecting high power and then what you end up getting is a sustained 50 kilowatts, which is maybe a third of what you're expecting, and that changes your charge time from 30 minutes to 50 minutes," he said. "In a throughput model that's not good."

It is also important to consider amenities since the customer will be spending a lot of time at the retail location while charging.

Industry players also have to keep up with improving technology.

"Technology is always pushing the boundaries of what is possible," Boyadjis said.

Solid state batteries are on the cutting edge, he said. It lowers the battery weight as well as potentially dangerous elements.

Improvements are also needed in equipment reliability, he said. He would like to see charging stations work reliably beyond a couple of years. He has seen chargers two to four months old with software issues.

The need for more uniform standards for EV charging equipment was raised during the question and answer period.

Eichberger said there is a lot of work being done on EV charger standards, but it is not being coordinated. A common set of standards is needed to facilitate the buildout of the charging stations.

To this end, Tesla recently opened its Supercharger network to other automakers.

"That's a huge evolution in technology," Eichberger said.

Nonetheless, he agreed there is a lot of work to do to achieve standards uniformity.

Electric grid capabilities

Boyadjis also noted that electric grid capability at the regional level will affect how the market develops.

"We already know there are challenges in interconnects today," he said, noting that California has asked that people not charge at certain times due to insufficient grid power. At the same time, there are parts of the country capable of producing more energy than they can use.

"There shouldn't be grid interconnect issues everywhere," he said.

Another questioner asked about battery swapping stations which would significantly reduce charging time. Boyadjis said this is already available in China, but in the U.S., the automakers are not ready to support this.

"I just don't see it ever happening here," he said.

"This is a constantly moving ball, and it's really, really hard to understand exactly what the market will look like," Boyadjis said.

Photo by Networld Media Group.