Investment Opportunities Emerge in Electric Vehicle Charging Industry

Takeaway: There have been recent breakthroughs in electric vehicle charging, from seven automakers forming a North American joint venture to many companies adopting Tesla’s charging standard. Some important trends don’t feature prominently in the headlines, but here are three that deserve attention. Electricity Market Takes New Steps The surge in electric vehicle adoption presents an opportunity for automakers to enter the energy market. Analysts predict that by 2040, the total storage capacity of all electric vehicles will reach 52 terawatt hours, 570 times the storage capacity of the grid deployed today. They will also consume 3,200 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, about 9 percent of global electricity demand. These large batteries can meet power needs or send energy back to the grid. Automakers are exploring the business models needed to take advantage of this

There have been recent breakthroughs in electric vehicle charging, from seven automakers forming a North American joint venture to many companies adopting Tesla’s charging standard. Some important trends don’t feature prominently in the headlines, but here are three that deserve attention.

Electricity Market Takes New Steps

The surge in electric vehicle adoption presents an opportunity for automakers to enter the energy market. Analysts predict that by 2040, the total storage capacity of all electric vehicles will reach 52 terawatt hours, 570 times the storage capacity of the grid deployed today. They will also consume 3,200 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, about 9 percent of global electricity demand.

These large batteries can meet power needs or send energy back to the grid. Automakers are exploring the business models and technologies needed to take advantage of this: General Motors just announced that by 2026, vehicle-to-home bidirectional charging will be available in a range of electric vehicles. Renault will start offering vehicle-to-grid services with the R5 model in France and Germany next year.

Tesla has also taken this action. Homes in California with Powerwall energy storage devices will receive $2 for every kilowatt-hour of electricity they emit to the grid. As a result, car owners earn about $200 to $500 a year, and Tesla takes a cut of about 20%. The company’s next targets are the United Kingdom, Texas and Puerto Rico.

truck charging station

Activity in the truck charging industry is also on the rise. While there were just 6,500 electric trucks on the road outside China at the end of last year, analysts expect that number to rise to 12 million by 2040, requiring 280,000 public charging points.

WattEV opened the largest public truck charging station in the United States last month, which will draw 5 megawatts of electricity from the grid and be able to charge 26 trucks at once. Greenlane and Milence set up more charging stations. Separately, battery-swapping technology is gaining popularity in China, with about half of the 20,000 electric trucks sold in China last year able to swap batteries.

Tesla, Hyundai and VW pursue wireless charging

In theory, wireless charging has the potential to reduce maintenance costs and provide a smoother charging experience. Tesla teased the idea of wireless charging during its investor day in March. Tesla recently acquired Wiferion, a German inductive charging company.

Genesis, a subsidiary of Hyundai, is testing wireless charging technology in South Korea. The technology currently has a maximum power of 11 kilowatts and needs further improvement if it is to be adopted on a large scale.

Volkswagen plans to conduct a 300-kilowatt trial of wireless charging at its innovation center in Knoxville, Tennessee.