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The three drivers for EV success
For electric vehicles to reach their potential and be commonplace on roads, there are three key drivers, according to industry observers: Regulations, consumer behaviour and infrastructure.
Without regulations to drive economics, EVs face a higher hill to climb, suggested Akshay Singh, partner with Strategy&.
“If the government comes in and provides incentives, then it makes economics much more favourable for electric vehicles,” he said during the presentation Impact of New Technologies in the Automotive Aftermarket at AAPEX 2021. “If government comes in and imposes taxes on fuel, then that will make the economics really good for electric vehicles. So regulations play a role, but they really impact economics to a certain extent.”
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He spoke alongside Carlos Thimann, director at Strategy&, at the Las Vegas event. The company released a forecast by the same name as the presentation for the Auto Care Association and the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association.
Consumer behaviours will also need to change to support EV adoption. For example, it takes just a few minutes to fill up a gas tank at the gas station. An electric vehicle will need at least 10 minutes to recharge.
“So those kinds of things, actually, we need to monitor — whether the consumer will accept those things or not, how their behaviour will change, how they actually drive the vehicle [and] how they operate the vehicle,” Singh said.
Tied into that is vehicle charging stations. Having the proper infrastructure will be essential on the path to EV adoption among consumers.
“Charging infrastructure, one, is very, very expensive to install. And we believe that 80 per cent of charging will be done by consumers at home,” Singh observed. “Today, consumers don’t fill up their gas vehicles at home because we don’t have all the equipment in our backyard, but we all have access to electricity.
“So it remains to be seen whether you know what kind of returns charging infrastructure providers can actually generate on their investment,” he added.
Apart from highlighting that consumers find it more convenient to charge their vehicles at home, the author has given no reasoning to how 80% of chargers will be installed in consumers homes. Interestingly the author mentions too, that EV chargers are “very very” expensive which reduces the chances for consumers to spend more than they need to for a ten minute convenience.