Infralogic on EV Charging – what’s next for long term infrastructure investment?

I took part in the Infralogic Investors Forum in London recently, an event that examines the current state and outlook for the infrastructure finance industry. These are the leading infrastructure funds, institutional investors and government groups that drive major infrastructure projects. They typically measure value over decades rather than years, and so need to be very responsive to structural changes in markets and consumer behaviours.

Inevitably, EV charging infrastructure was high on the agenda. Our panel, made up of leading investors, charge point operators and infrastructure experts, was asked what investors need to do to overcome the challenges to meet demand. It was a stimulating discussion, and these were my key takeaways.

There is broad international consensus that electric vehicles are the future

While five years ago there were questions about whether EV, hydrogen or even biofuels would take the lead in the vehicle energy transition, today the answer is definitively EV. Government investment incentives for charging, and subsidies to make it easier for people to switch are in place across the developed world. At the same time, consumers have warmly accepted EV as a mainstream retail product.

Range anxiety is over - charge anxiety remains

The rapid progress of EV charging rollouts, combined with consumer acceptance of EV, has largely eliminated range anxiety. It has been replaced, to a certain extent, by a concern over the experience of using public charge points. Will they be full, will they be working? The solution is to scale up charging facilities and to engage with operators with a vested interest in long-term service quality.

EV charge points are automated mini shops that interact with consumers

It’s not just about serving electricity – EV charging has far more infrastructure in the cloud than it does on the ground because ultimately this is a consumer experience. The facilities that will succeed over the long term are those that are the least disruptive to your daily routine. The operators that provide these seamless experiences first will be rewarded with long-term loyalty, as early preference will quickly harden into permanent habits.

V2X will play a major part in balancing energy demand and pricing

Low carbon sources such as wind and solar provide abundant low-cost energy, but it fluctuates naturally with the weather, so balancing is required if peak energy is not wasted. The massive combined storage in EV batteries can be harnessed to do this with the broad introduction of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) technologies. By storing excess energy and deciding on the best moment to charge, V2X communications enable dynamic bidirectional energy transfer to ensure less energy is wasted and prices are optimised. To work well it needs a lot of cars plugged in when they are parked, and that requires a major ramp in EV charging infrastructure.

You can watch the full session here (registration required).