A new report released June 15 by the Fuels Institute, “Electric Vehicle Adoption: Focus on Charging,” offers an evaluation of the electric vehicle (EV) market from the consumers perspective, including total cost of ownership, recharging infrastructure requirements, anticipated recharging behavior, and the relationship of EVs to competing technology in terms of consumer adoption.
There are seemingly a gazillion EV reports and studies out there. This one, however, is worth reading because it presents a measured view of the EV market. The report suggests that proclamations of tipping points and rapid market evolution are distracting given the amount of work and planning required to achieve higher levels of EV penetration. We believe that premise is spot-on and commend the report to anyone–including potential purchasers of EVs–interested in electric vehicle refueling.
Conclusions reached by the authors that we found interesting include:
- Many consumers will rely on conventional petroleum-based fuels for the foreseeable future, but electricity will become an increasingly important transportation fuel that drivers will depend on for their mobility needs.
- Increases in charging station deployments may outpace EV sales growth in the near-term, particularly for publicly accessible Level 2 charging.
- Utility investments reflect the uncertainty in the EV charging market–utilities are investing equally in different places for charging (e.g., public, workplace, at multi-family units) and using different funding mechanisms.
- There are likely to be more aggressive opportunities in the residential charging market in the near-term future, including both single-family housing units and multi-unit dwellings, as market participants seek to capitalize on growing customer acceptance of EV technology and focus on low-cost charging solutions.
The 96-page “Electric Vehicle Adoption: Focus on Charging.” can be downloaded free of charge here. https://www.fuelsinstitute.org/Forms/Report-Download?rid=150514&type=Report. A 2-page executive summary is available here. https://www.fuelsinstitute.org/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=169db127-7a53-4db6-93bc-186aba674561