Low demand for electric vehicles compared to the broader auto market and the lack of a standard governing how EVs from different manufacturers can use the same charging networks are draining energy from the goal of juicing up any car at stations across the U.S., experts say.
Automakers, regional utilities and other companies have built out separate networks totaling 68,800 nonresidential charging plugs in the U.S. as of May 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Department. While interoperability between these systems remains a goal, many networks offer access only to drivers who are members, and some chargers do not work with all types of vehicles.
The push for more charging infrastructure comes as car companies are ramping up their efforts to produce EVs. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. have both announced plans to launch all-electric vehicles as Tesla Inc. continues to dominate the U.S. market. Automakers sold 329,528 EVs in the U.S. in 2019, compared with 361,307 in 2018, according to InsideEVs.
That remains a fraction of the 17 million passenger cars sold in the U.S. in 2019. Drivers may be hesitant to purchase an EV because of range anxiety and a lack of access to charging outside the home, which remains the most-used location to charge a car, experts say.
"If you can't charge a vehicle, you can't drive it, so you're not going to buy it," said Matteo Muratori, senior engineer and team lead for integrated transportation and energy systems analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL.
Many in the industry are also pushing for a standard, nationwide charging system, while federal lawmakers are pushing legislation that would create such a system.
Automakers to increase EV production, charging efforts
Access to charging will become more important as more consumers switch to EVs. KPMG predicts that total U.S. EV sales in 2030 will be 1.1 million to 1.8 million, or about 7% to 12% of the market for personal-use vehicles, while Bloomberg NEF expects 57% of passenger vehicle sales to be electric by 2040.
Meanwhile, automakers are banking on the expectation that EV demand will increase as they announce plans for new models and charging infrastructure.
The U.S. is not keeping pace with the amount of public charging infrastructure needed, said Alex Keros, GM's lead architect for EV infrastructure. The Detroit automaker has been working with utilities and charging infrastructure providers to ensure that the installation of charging equipment keeps pace with EV sales.
GM recently announced a $2.2 billion investment to produce electric and autonomous vehicles at one of its assembly plants in Michigan as part of a $3 billion total spend on all-electric vehicles. The company also announced plans to build its first all-electric pickup truck, an all-electric self-driving vehicle and an all-electric "super truck" under the revived Hummer name.
Ford is also focusing on electrification. Upcoming debuts include an electric version of its F-150 pickup and the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV. In October 2019, the automaker announced the FordPass Charging Network,
The company said in an email that it expects to expand the network to a greater number of charging stations for drivers of Ford EVs.
Volkswagen AG-backed Electrify America has established charging agreements with several automakers, including Ford, so that drivers of those EVs can charge at Electrify America stations. The company was created as part of VW's diesel emissions settlement in 2016.
Brendan Jones, Electrify America's COO, said creating a nationwide charging network is a two-part process: providing universal access for EV drivers at charging stations and interoperability.
"To make sure that any driver can come up to a charging station anywhere and charge," he said, adding that Electrify America put credit card readers on all of its public fast chargers.
Electrify America's $2 billion investment, consisting of four cycles through 2026, started with installing charging units along the most heavily traveled routes in the U.S.
About 70% of the first cycle's money went to charging infrastructure along highways, with the remaining 30% in metro areas, Jones said.
Electric carmaker Tesla built its own charging network with more than 15,000 Superchargers available only to Tesla drivers. The company declined to answer specific questions but directed Market Intelligence to its website and the "2018 Tesla Impact Report."
"Superchargers are strategically placed to allow owners to take long road trips with minimal stops and are located near restaurants, coffee shops, markets and other convenient amenities," the report said.
Lighting up a nationwide network
While automakers and others are working toward interoperability, it is unclear whether those efforts will result in a unified network that works for all EV vehicles.
Jeff Osborne, managing director and senior research analyst at Cowen and Co., said a cohesive, nationwide network is unlikely in a market like the U.S.
"We have over 3,000 utilities," Osborne said, adding that he expects there will continue to be multiple service providers, similar to Wi-Fi.
NREL's Muratori said he hopes that charging infrastructure will be a nationwide effort, with the same kind of access and plug available to all EVs.
"From a technical perspective, we all really wish it would go to a single standard and to a single kind of plug," he said.
The question, though, is how these charging networks will evolve, Muratori said.
"If over time automakers keep building their own charging networks for their vehicles, [the chargers are] probably going to remain different," he said. "If regulation is introduced or if they start becoming more profitable and people start investing in them as a sort of independent revenue-generating opportunity, then I would assume that they would want to attract as many vehicles as possible, which is going to lead to one single standard."
The U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation Feb. 6 that proposes building a nationwide charging network by 2025. The Electric Vehicle Freedom Act — sponsored by Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. — pushes for high-speed charging stations along the national highway public highway system. A priority would be making sure the chargers are compatible with any EV, Levin said at the time.
The bill would mandate that federal funds provided by the legislation could not be used to build any publicly available EV charging equipment unless it is compatible with any vehicle produced by any manufacturer.
Balancing stations with demand
The industry is also balancing how many chargers to install while EV demand is growing, experts said.
"Right now, approximately 80% of all EV charging is done at home," Ford told Market Intelligence. "But as infrastructure grows, and workplace charging becomes offered by more and more employers as a perk, EV drivers will feel more comfortable charging outside the home, which will hopefully spur faster EV purchase consideration and adoption."
Muratori said the majority of EVs are currently sold to higher-income households that usually have a dedicated parking spot with charging available.
"This is not going to be the case forever," he said, noting that as the market evolves, more EV owners will be unable to charge at home, including those who live in apartments and condos.
Having multiple plugs and standards results in duplication of effort and redundancies in the system, Muratori said.
"This is particularly problematic when the market is in the early stages since it can lead to charging stations being lowly utilized and thus more expensive," Muratori said.
GM's Keros said the automaker can play a role in facilitating the installation of charging stations in the best spots to help drive utilization as quickly as possible.
"[With] our data, we know where the vehicles are, our experience overall, our scale and some of the underlying key principles to drive the business model for public infrastructure," Keros said.
Money matters
There are many different roles to play when it comes to who is responsible for managing, investing in and building these networks, Keros said.
"Charging station providers, automakers and utilities collectively are working to put various pieces in various places to really enable that," he said.
Muratori said a reliable extensive network of public charging is required for the EV market to expand.
"So everyone who has an interest in seeing the EV market expand is probably willing to somehow help cover these investments and costs," he said.
Cooperation is also necessary as there is no "silver bullet solution" to building out EV networks, according to Ford.
"It takes collaboration between automakers, utilities, government, EV organizations, businesses and charging companies to all play a part in increasing EV charging infrastructure — and EV consumer adoption," the company said.