How to Develop EV Charging Infrastructure
Australia currently boasts around 3,000 public charging points for electric vehicles. Less than 500 of these are DC superchargers and the rest are standard AC chargers. The federal government as well as respective state governments have promised to invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few years to develop EV charging infrastructure.
However, one of the biggest roadblocks to the wider adoption of electric vehicles is the lack of public charging points and continuous investment in charging infrastructure is necessary to increase the pace of EV adoption. The good news is that most people want to cut down emissions through the broader adoption of electric vehicles so this will be a worthwhile investment by the government.
What Is EV Charging Infrastructure?
EV charging infrastructure refers to the widespread and convenient availability of public charging points for the charging of electric vehicles. Adequate charging infrastructure is necessary to tackle range anxiety and boost EV adoption.
It’s the same story being repeated when petrol-powered cars were introduced to replace the horse and cart. Once the people realised the benefits of petrol-powered cars, there was rapid development in petrol and fuel infrastructure which, in turn, gave a boost to ICE vehicle sales.
EV Charging Terminologies You Should Know
There are some key terminologies in the EV charging industry you should know. These include:
Station location: As the name implies, this is the location with one or multiple charging points. It could be a parking garage or a parking lot in a shopping mall and similar locations.
EVSE Port: This stands for electric vehicle supply equipment port which allows charging of only a single vehicle at a time even when multiple connectors are connected to the equipment. This is also known by various other names such as a charging post.
Connector: This is the line connecting the vehicle to the charging post. An EVSE port may have a variety of connector types but can only charge only a single vehicle at a given time.
Different Charging Consumer Segments
When it comes to EV charging consumers, they may be divided into 4 broad categories along the lines of traditional fuel segments. These 4 segments of consumers are:
- Focus on convenience
- Focus on price
- Focus on loyalty
- Focus on quality
Consumers focused on convenience are likely to be those who are starved for time. They don’t mind paying for high charging speeds. They are the ones who will go to the most convenient location that offers the fastest charging time and they may not use reservation apps aggressively. Businesses that target these consumers should focus on building extra capacity for maximising the availability of extremely fast chargers. This is the group of consumers that is likely to demand faster than the Level 3 charging option and are willing to pay a premium for charging speed.
Consumers that are focused on price will most likely prefer Level 3 stations that may not be located conveniently. This is the group of consumers that won’t mind waiting for some time and they would also prefer making reservations through mobile apps. This category of consumers may include tourists or out-of-town visitors who prefer visiting restaurants or malls or amusement parks while leaving their car for charging.
Loyalty programs are a huge hit with consumers and they are also likely to gain some share in the EV charging market. The extent of the loyalty segment in this market may not be as big as most of the charging is likely to happen at home but it is estimated that they will form anywhere from 10 to 20% of the total market.
The last category of consumers is more quality-focused. They will differentiate between different EV charging brands similar to different brands of traditional fuels. It’s going to be difficult to differentiate EV charging products on something other than the speed of charging. One of the ways to differentiate could be the use of green power derived from renewable sources and charging a premium for green power.
How to Develop EV Charging Infrastructure
It is expected that most consumers will do a significant part of charging at home but wider adoption of electric vehicles is only possible when there is a significant investment in developing EV charging infrastructure.
The EV charging infrastructure is always going to be a partnership between the government and private businesses. The federal government and respective state governments in Australia have announced an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in co-funding public fast and ultra-fast charging stations.
These charging stations will be designed to have several charging posts and are likely to be operated by charging point operators. Some state governments have also announced EV fast charging grants for operators. The governments are also planning to partner with charging point operators for building chargers on their sites.
Final Thoughts
The world is changing and consumers are more aware of the impact of climate change. This is why more consumers are buying electric vehicles. Australia has made a slow start but the adoption of electric vehicles is increasing at a fast pace.
Governments at both federal and state levels are incentivising the development of charging infrastructure through grants and partnerships. It also presents an opportunity for enterprising businesses as providing charging points at a business site is likely to be an attractive differentiator with the growing number of electric vehicles on the road.
Smart business owners are already investing in electric vehicle charging points to get ahead of the competition by providing convenient locations to charge electric vehicles. It will go a long way in attracting increasingly environmentally-conscious consumers to their businesses.
Buy Electric Vehicle Chargers at GET Electric
GET Electric is one of the premier suppliers of electric vehicle charging solutions in Australia. We offer a wide range of charging solutions. Our commercial electric vehicle chargers are monitored by our custom backend platform.
Each charger is connected to a gateway solution which means you only need to provide the space for the charger and we will manage the charging unit operation along with billing and maintenance.
Please call us today on 1800 GET NOW to learn more about our EV charging and infrastructure solutions or leave an enquiry and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.