Electric vehicle sales power ahead, along with charging station builds
Electric vehicle sales power ahead, along with charging station builds
The electric vehicle market is heading into a very uncertain time with President-elect Donald Trump taking office next week. He intends to end some federal programs that have boosted EV adoption in recent years.
But, right now, that adoption is still happening — of the vehicles themselves and the charging stations. EV sales rose 15% year over year in the fourth quarter, according to Cox Automotive. That’s a new high.
And a Bloomberg analysis of data from the Department of Energy, out Wednesday, shows that a record number of high-speed charging stations were installed in the fourth quarter. That buildout has been boosted by federal dollars, but it’s coming from the private sector too.
Two main barriers stand between many drivers and an electric vehicle: higher prices for the car and the lack of charging infrastructure, said Stephanie Valdez Streaty at Cox Automotive.
“It’s those edge cases that they’re thinking about,” said Streaty. “If I’m going to go on a trip, and, you know, I want to be able to charge, or I have to do a long commute.”
Drivers want to know that they won’t get stranded.
And more businesses are picking up on the revenue opportunity that comes with that charging anxiety, said Gil Tal, a professor at University of California, Davis.
“When you are charging, you will be there for between 15 minutes to half an hour,” said Tal. “You can go grab coffee, do a quick shopping.”
So, if you put some chargers next to your coffee shop or clothing store, you probably won’t make much selling electricity, but drivers might spend money in your store while they wait.
“Very similar to how gas stations make more money from selling soda and stuff,” Tal said.
This is happening in a lot of shopping plazas and along interstates. Some truck stops are adding chargers, but so are other companies that haven’t traditionally been in the fueling business, said Jim Hurless at CBRE.
“Volvo, ChargePoint and Starbucks built out a network of DC fast-charging between Seattle and Denver along the interstate corridors,” he said.
All these new charging stations are a response to the growth of EVs on the road. Or, maybe there are more EVs on the road because there are more chargers.
“You know, those of us in this space pretty much universally hate the chicken-and-egg analogy,” said Jeff Allen, executive director of an organization called Forth, which advocates electrified transportation. He said EVs and public charging are more like chicken and waffles.
“They both make the other better,” Allen said. “The more EV drivers you have, the more utilization you have of the charging network, and the more charging you have out in public, the easier it is for more people to choose to go electric.”
And, for now, both charging and EVs are growing pretty fast.
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