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Tag: fast-charging stations

  • Electric Car Charging Stations Now Number 64,000 Worldwide

    Though hybrid cars are becoming more ubiquitous on U.S. roads, sales of fully-electric plug-in vehicles are still ramping up slowly. Part of the reason for the slow adoption of electric cars is the fact that the charging station infrastructure simply isn’t in place to support them. That will be changing soon, however, as electric vehicle charging stations will soon be popping up all over the globe.

    Market research firm Navigant Research this week released new estimates showing that almost 64,000 electric vehicle charging station are currently operational worldwide. The firm points out that many of these stations in Europe and the U.S. were installed using government subsidies and resources, but that those funds are now beginning to dry up.

    “As public investments in charging infrastructure wane, the numerous companies that emerged in the market’s early stages and championed various technologies and business models are now beginning to consolidate and standardize,” said Scott Shepard, research analyst with Navigant. “While investment in EV charging equipment technology has been significant during the past few years, the private sector now needs to focus on financing infrastructure deployments in order for the market to continue to grow rapidly.”

    Shepard’s prediction echoes that of analyst firm IHS, which predicted back in August that the number of electric vehicle charging stations worldwide will reach nearly 200,000 by the year 2020. The slow charging times for electric vehicles, which are another factor in the slow adoption, are also expected to improve in the near future.

    (Image courtesy Ludovic Hirlimann)

  • Electric Car Charging Stations to Reach 200K by 2020

    Hybrid cars have now become the norm on U.S. roads and car company Tesla is showing more established car companies exactly how to build a safe, profitable electric luxury car. Though electric vehicles appear to be the future, the infrastructure for the change-over from gas is not yet in place.

    Analyst firm IHS this week reassured consumers, predicting that fast-charging stations are set to blanket the work in the coming years. The firm predicted that the number of fast-charging stations in the world will reach 199,000 by the year 2020 – over 110 times the number of stations that existed as of last year (around 1800). The number of stations is expected to climb to just shy of 6,000 by the end of this year, and to just over 15,000 by the end of 2014.

    “The length of time it takes to recharge an EV continues to be one of the major stumbling blocks inhibiting the widespread adoption of electric vehicles,” said Alastair Hayfield, associate research director at IHS Automotive. “Compared to the time it takes to refuel an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, the recharge time for EVs is incredibly slow—at about four hours to charge a 24 kilowatt-hour (kWh)-capacity battery using a 6.6 kW on-board charger. If EV auto manufacturers could overcome this obstacle, it could lead to a high rate of adoption from environmentally minded consumers as well as those seeking to cut gasoline expenses. That’s where fast charging comes in.”

    While the numbers of fast-charging stations will rise quickly in the coming years, not all of them will operate a single charging standard. According to IHS, two major fast-charging standards, CHAdeMO and CCS (combined charging system), will be competing for driver dollars. CHAdeMO is backed primarily by Japanese auto manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, as well as by major Japanese power companies. The CSS standard is backed by German and U.S. car brands such as BMW, GM, Ford, Volkswagen, and Chrysler.

    (Image courtesy Ludovic Hirlimann)