Mass Adoption Of Electric Vehicle Is Coming… But What About Charging Infrastructure?

In 2019, the global number of EVs including light commercial vehicles on the road reached 7.5 million.
And that number is projected to grow to over 100 million vehicles by 2030 according to the market research firm IDTechEx.
Another study done by BloombergNEF projects that EVs will account for 57% of global passenger car sales by 2040.
This increase will likely create a gap in charging infrastructure that will need to be filled.
Exactly how much charging infrastructure will be needed is something that policymakers and various stakeholders around the world are trying to figure out.
There’s simply too much going on globally to cover in one video so we are going to zero in on the US.
And this brings us to an eye-opening study done by The International Council on Clean Transportation that analyzed the US 100 most populous metro areas which represent 75% of the US Vehicle market.
The council estimates that these areas will need to add around 185,000 level 2 and 10,000 level 3 charging stations by 2025 in order to keep up with projected EV sales.
That is a 400% increase compared to the current infrastructure.
The council estimates the cost of adding 185,000 level 2 stations to be around $940 million over the next five years.
Now entities throughout the country are working on filling the gap, too many to cover them all.
But some of the highlights include Electrify America a subsidiary of Volkswagen of America.
The company plans to open 800 stations by 2022 which is part of their planned $2 billion investment through 2027.
And of course, we have Tesla with 1870 supercharging stations and counting in the US with over 16,000 480-volt superchargers.
And that doesn’t include Tesla’s destination chargers as shown on the map on their website.
All of these grey markers are destination chargers many of them hotels.
Governments at state and municipal levels are also working to fill the looming charging gap as well.
NY State is investing $250 million over the next five years to build up the state’s EV infrastructure.
The investment includes charging stations at around 65 km intervals on its highways and charging hubs around JFK International Airport.
The US third largest city Chicago passed an ordinance mandating that at least 20% of parking spots must be ready for EV chargers in commercial buildings with 30 or more parking spaces.
Denver plans to expand their public charging stations from 400 to 4,000 by 2030.
There are many other examples across the country but let’s shift gears to some incredible alternative EV charging solutions in development or production around the world.
And this takes us to Audi’s mobile charging system.
The system is made out of three charging containers that houses 4,500 battery cells.
It has a MWH of storage capacity, a total charging power 1.2MW, and 20, 15minute ultra-fast charging points.
Their charging system is a great alternative solution as you can plop it down on any parking lot.
And Tesla has its Mega-Pack portable charging station that it deployed over the holidays.
The Megapack has an insane 3 MWh storage capacity and can charge 100 cars!
Now let’s look at some EV charging solutions that are a bit further beyond on the horizon.
Volkswagen recently unveiled an autonomous charging concept involving robots and energy storage devices called battery wagons.
The idea is for robots to bring the battery wagon to designated parking spaces prompted by requests via smartphone.
The great thing about this concept that the installation footprint is minimal and allows all parking spaces to be EV chagrining capable.
Another cool example of robotic charging comes from the Dutch startup ROCSYS.
ROCSYS is developing soft robotics technology allowing for fully unmanned charging operations.
The company designed a robotic arm that uses the computer vision to guide the plug into the charging socket.
The arm is also equipped with soft robotic features allowing it to absorb the shocks that come from people enter and exits the vehicle.
As vehicles become more and more autonomous, technology like this will enable vehicles to charge themselves in the future.
It’s hard to say whether EV charging infrastructure will grow fast enough to keep up with EV adoption.
And there may be other areas where EV owners may have to wait an extra half hour for a charging spot.
But between the efforts from governments and automakers, we heading in the right direction.
A direction that leads to a world where owning an EV is just as convenient as owning petrol vehicle.