An electric forecourt operator won the ‘UK Charging Network of the Year’ accolade with 20 per cent of its chargers out of service. How low was that bar? The New York Times reported 40 per cent of US chargers down at any one time. France and Germany, major early adopting EV markets, report the same unreliability. Drivers despair at too few chargers. Competing networks undermine interoperability. Too many payment cards and membership schemes. Too many connectors and cables. Charging is too slow. Vehicles are too expensive.
A scroll across social media will tell you we really are not there yet. And that’s before we get started on the clever stuff like driverless Plug and Charge authentication, Vehicle to Everything (V2X), battery supported installations, megawatt truck charging networks, mass utilisation grade security and more.
The electrification of mobility has been radical, challenging and disruptive. It has felt more collisions than planets at the beginning of time. However not all decisions so far have been good ones, as Ventum Associates’ clients learn to their strategic and competitive advantage.