The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is gaining momentum, promising a greener future and a thrilling ride. However, before you jump headfirst into the world of electric cars, it’s essential to consider all aspects of the journey. One of those aspects includes the inability for many EV owners to efficiently charge their vehicles. Some EV drivers cannot install chargers at their place of residence and public charging points are often expensive or inconvenient. There is also the issue that many live in urban what is known as “charging deserts”, or simply areas that like proper charging infrastructure.
The U.S. and European government bodies are trying their best to subsidize both public rapid-charging and slower on-street charging networks, but their development has been delayed often due to bureaucratic reasons.
In a 2023 Ipsos survey, 39% of 4,000 British drivers polled said, that they would switch to an EV if they did not have to rely exclusively on public charging facilities.
In similar fashion with a U.S. national 2022 poll initiated by Ipsos, 37% of drivers who were asked what would encourage them to buy a fully-electric car or a plug-in hybrid, said the ability to charge it at home.
EV Charging Gap Solutions
Electric vehicle drivers unable to install a charger at home are turning instead to stopgaps offered by independent U.S. and European firms as alternatives to often expensive or inconvenient public charging points. The solutions include online platforms allowing people to rent out their chargers, “pavement gullies” for properties with no driveways and even mobile charging.
Heather Hochrein founded Redwood City, California-based EVmatch in 2016 to connect charger owners and renters. While slow to take off, she built the business setting up and running thousands of chargers for apartment complexes in 47 U.S. states, which EVmatch also rents to the public through its app.
Only 5 percent of the 600,000-plus chargers around 20 European countries on Danish firm Monta’s charging app are peer-to-peer private chargers, but CEO Casper Rasmussen said growth has been much slower in markets like Germany, where homeowners are required to have an expensive license to rent out their chargers.
UK-based company Charge Fairy serves EV drivers that desire convenience over cost. The mobile charging service dispatches five vans full of batteries across London that can rapidly charge EVs wherever they are parked. The demand for such service is strong however, Charge Fairy says it cannot take on any more retail customers until it can add more vans.
Other companies are focusing on the number of homes that can install chargers. British startup Kerbo Charge is among those using pavement gullies – a narrow, square tube sunk into the sidewalk to carry a charging cable to the street from a home.
Kerbo Charge has approval from the U.S. city of Philadelphia to install gullies and expects agreements with local authorities in Britain soon, according to company director Michael Goulden.
Reality of EV charging
While these services could put a dent in the global public charging infrastructure problem, they will not achieve the massive scale required to solve it any time soon.
President Joe Biden’s hopes for an electric-car takeover of America’s highways are running into speed bumps in conjunction with weaker-than-expected sales nationwide. In reaction to the reality of the matter, the Environmental Protection Agency is leaning towards approving a compromise regulation on car and truck pollution that could slow the initial pace of aggressive EV plans related to the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
The Federal Government has set a goal to make half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, and to build a convenient and equitable network of 500,000 chargers to help make EVs accessible to all Americans for both local and long-distance trips.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates the country will need 28 million charging ports by 2030 to refuel the 33 million light-duty electrics that could be on the road by then.