More than 1.5 million electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations will be available in the U.S. – with a total of 7.7 million installed worldwide – by 2017, according to a recent report from Pike Research.
Increased demand for charge points will be driven, in part, by a rapid decline in EV supply equipment (EVSE) prices. This development, in turn, will require manufacturers to adapt their business models as volumes continue to increase, the firm says.
‘Basic electric-vehicle supply equipment will quickly become a commodity,’ says senior analyst John Gartner. “EVSE prices will fall by 37% through 2017, as costs are driven lower by competition from large electronics companies as well as volume production. In the face of this trend, manufacturers will integrate their equipment with external storage units, home energy management systems and smart grid equipment to add value and increase their revenue.”
Gartner adds that the “EV charging as a service” business model is growing as network operators look to provide EVSE location and status information available on demand. He expects that these companies will integrate billing and aggregate power consumption to create new services that will help to stabilize grid operations and create new revenue streams in the process.
The full report is available here.
