Charging Infrastructure

Charging speeds for electric vehicles (EVs) vary, from as little as 15 minutes using an ultra-rapid 350 kW charger, to as much as 24 hours when relying on a domestic wall outlet. Eventually, we could reach a point where recharging barely takes longer than filling up with fuel.

There has been a ramp-up of charging infrastructure to make EV charging more widespread and publicly accessible. A holistic approach is being taken where fast chargers, destination chargers, and home chargers all play an important role in supporting the different electric segments. The industry is seeing increased investments, collaboration, and innovation that will hopefully help today's parking lots become tomorrow's charging stations.

High Power Chargers (HPCs) refer to Level 3 DC fast charging at a rate of 50 kW or more. In general, because vehicle range and battery capacities are increasing, there is an increased ability for vehicles to accept higher charge rates.

Despite the roaring success of EVs, adequate charging infrastructure is lagging behind. It is a classic chicken-versus-egg scenario: do public charging stations help drive EV adoption, or does greater EV adoption demand a more comprehensive public charging infrastructure?

In this article, IDTechEx analysts take a look back at the key events and trends from the future mobility world over the past year - and what to look out for in 2022.

World Electric Vehicle Day is here, and, as an industry analyst, it presents a great occasion to take a retrospective look at the past decade of innovation and disruption.

With the growing momentum behind the electric vehicle market comes an added importance of understanding the Li-ion batteries that power them, the variety of design choices available, and trends in their implementation.

A more value-added approach to repurposing redundant fossil fuel assets such as coal mines and power stations is available.

The IDTechEx report "Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles and Fleets 2021-2031" finds that the total number of electric vehicle charging outlets surpassed 1 million in 2020, with both China and Europe at or below the optimum 10 electric vehicles per charging outlet.

Would you prefer a car with 600 miles/nearly 1000km range or half that? Fast charging is all the talk now but doubling then trebling the range is seismic.