California is the latest significant jurisdiction requiring all new cars and passenger trucks sold to be zero-emission vehicles from 2035. IEA expects that EVs sales will account for 3% of global car sales in 2020. Stakeholders from power generators to governments in major economies are en route to the accelerating adoption speed and deepening penetration. So as a person in charge of E-Mobility who do you think is the ultimate driver in mass-scale EV adoption?
Evolution in the chicken-egg problem
Evolution in the chicken-egg problemOEM’s are struggling to achieve the optimal EV price because they are not achieving the necessary economies of scale. As result, they are hesitant to take a risk of mass production.
On the other hand, there are not enough EVs on the road for potential charging infrastructure operators to install stations. Only 12% of light-duty vehicle chargers (most of them slow chargers) were publicly accessible in 2019.
This problem has been around for many years. Due to these interrelated risks both OEM’s and charging infrastructure enablers have been hedging risks instead of bidding on E-Mobility.
Stakeholders should work at the same time and at the same place to assure step-by-step implementation of E-Mobility adoption programs.
The problem was tackled by the introduction of electric car-sharing initiatives. For example, Daimler, EnBW, and local government achieved well utilized charging infrastructure by combining the deployment of an electric car-sharing fleet with installing charging points in Stuttgart, Germany.
The chicken-egg problem should be solved by timely coordination & cooperation between OEMs, utilities, charging point operators (CPOs), and city municipalities. Stakeholders should work at the same time and at the same place to assure step-by-step implementation of E-Mobility adoption programs.
Close cooperation with each city municipality is essential. Adoption is a local story so get ready for the city by city battle. Because E-Mobility perception is about the unique needs and wants of citizens in each city.
Number of successful charging stations
E-Mobility programs of utility companies aim to stimulate adoption by developing networks and charging infrastructure. The relevant people are involved in the entire process of deployment of charging infrastructure in the following chronological order:
-
Advisory & planning.
-
Installation.
-
Operation & maintenance.
You are required to be dealing with several ongoing projects at once. Working in such projects requires both commercial and technical understanding to justify investing in EV charging infrastructure.
Increasing % of charging stations with a positive business case is key evidence to win the argument. Such business cases can be made by attracting retailers to become EV charging site host to increase average retail spend per customer.
EV owners usually spend more time at the site while waiting for their car to be charged, longer time spent higher chances of spending more.
Hydrogen Vehicle vs. EV
If you follow today’s media hype it seems there is no future for ICE vehicles, so the debate has already shifted to Hydrogen Vehicle vs. EV. Both, Hydrogen Vehicles and EVs are clean alternatives to ICE vehicles in future mobility.
In Hydrogen Vehicle vs. EV debate, the battery cost and charging infrastructure developments have made a huge impact for the past decade.
For example, EV charging points can be in 3 location categories:
-
At work.
-
At home.
-
On the road.
Whereas Hydrogen Vehicles can be filled only on the road the same way as diesel or petrol cars. Flexibility to charge EV at home is one of the key attractions to a consumer over petrol/diesel or hydrogen vehicles.
The place where EVs are weak is Heavy Duty Cars (trucks) or planes. That’s where hydrogen comes in handy.
To say who will win the rivalry is difficult because it will depend on government policies. And governments will need to see commercial and technological evidence to make specific decisions in the nearest future.
If China has already made a huge contribution to EVs adoption rates globally by its governmental policies, in upcoming decades we will see a push for hydrogen cars in Europe thanks to Next Generation EU recovery package introduced as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Never forget Average Joe
In the rush of marketing efforts, you shouldn’t underestimate the rationality of an end-user consumer. An ICE car driver can compare charging time, driving distance, and price before making buying decisions.
Yes, governments can force these to stop buying ICE cars, but time will show what price those politicians will be ready to pay when the time will come to implement today’s decisions.
When energy transition will sustain without subsidies? Are taxpayers ready to pay for it? That’s a political question in many European capitals. You saw how French reform around fuel tax discouraging fossil-fuel use sparked the yellow vests protests in 2018.
An average car driver is the real driver of E-Mobility. Current EV owners are early adopters who are willing to tolerate cost, relative complexity in charging EV, and cope with range anxiety. Those enthusiasts live in the future and are willing to bear the cost and hurdle of a long way ahead in e-mobility adoption until it becomes common.
If you will fail to convince Average Joe to switch from his very convenient ICE car to EV then all government subsidies and your marketing videos are a waste. In all E-Mobility adoption efforts, the key focus should be on consumer’s cost and comfort concerns.
Navigating through the ocean of noise
Everyone is talking about E-Mobility. Everyone. You can get lost to understand which business model is right for your business development. The best way to understand the cause-and-effect relationships behind any story is to get direct access to the source of information.
Thus Prospero Events Group is organizing 2nd consecutive year ‘’E-Mobility Infrastructure: Fast and Smart Charging’’ virtual conference on 23-24th November 2020. Overcoming fast-charging challenges is a key element of EV adoption today.
The speaker panel consisting of leading-edge E-Mobility professionals from Vattenfall (Sweden), E.ON (Germany), CEZ (Czech Republic), Scania (Sweden), BP (Germany), Volvo (Sweden), Enel X (France) will be sharing knowledge and case studies.
One of the speakers, Rainer Bachmann (Head of Platforms & Operations, Domain E-Mobility, E.ON, Germany), will share experience about grid disturbances on the low voltage level.
Join this exclusive meeting to benchmark best practices about integrating fast-charging stations within power grids. Integrating a battery system for lower installation costs of Ultra-Fast Charging station. Business model developments as E-Mobility Service Providers.
