A recent report from Pike Research indicates that the electric vehicle (EV) cybersecurity market will increase from just $26 million in 2011 to $144 million by 2015, with a cumulative investment of $432 million during that period.
In an effort to protect financial transactions and the end-to-end communications associated with EV charging infrastructure, utilities and other stakeholders are expected to substantially increase their investments in various technologies.
‘Smart charging management will be the primary driver of expanded utility spending on EV cybersecurity,’ says Pike Research's Bob Lockhart. ‘The IT and communications infrastructure supporting charging equipment will need to be resilient and secure in order to mitigate risks associated with financial transactions and the threat of hacking that is posed by the addition of these new endpoints.’
Pike Research says its analysis suggests that the emerging EV cybersecurity market is ‘somewhat hamstrung in the near term by the lack of security standards and binding regulation or legislation related to these issues.’
Lockhart notes that this lack of standardization will likely make security for EV infrastructure ‘more expensive than it needs to be, and more complex, over the next several years.’
