Description
The current EU regulation on emissions for cars is the strictest worldwide. Along with further restrictions the thresholds cannot be met with conventional cars only anymore. One alternative technology, that reduces local emissions, is electric vehicles (EVs). For a successful market entry of EVs, a functioning infrastructure is necessary. Customers rank inadequate access to charging stations as the third most serious barrier to EV purchase, after price and driving range (Mckinsey, 2018). Therefore, public charging systems for electric vehicles support the electrification of urban mobility systems. While price and driving range improve each year, chargers can be of different power ranges and charging technologies. In addition, they can be smartly integrated into the local grid and provide information about the system for customers, operators and other stakeholders. For the user experience, it is recommended to include a payment and authentication system, which facilitates access and enhances the transparency of the charging process. It is also an issue of access to charging stations, as charging is performed while the car is parked, and the possibility of booking parking spots (adjacent to the charging station) is legally challenging in many countries. Dedicated parking spots for EVs only do not solve the issue, as another (fully charged) EV can park for a long term on the spot for which one accounts for charging after arrival.
Problems to be solved
Growing charging demand for EVs | Carbon Emissions | Air pollution |
Government Initiatives
What efforts and policies are local/national public administrations undertaking to help further and support this Solution?
Countries in Europe have a variety of subsidies and incentives for building EV charging infrastructure. For example, Germany offers the following for public charging stations:
- A subsidy of up to €3,000 for purchasing charging stations of up to 22 kW.
- A subsidy of up to €12,000 for purchasing DC chargers up to 100 kW.
- A subsidy of up to €30,000 for purchasing DC chargers above 100 kW.
- Connections to the grid are subsidized by up to €5,000 for low voltage and €50,000 for medium voltage grid connections.
(Noyens, 2020)
Stakeholder Mapping
Which stakeholders need to be considered (and how) regarding the planning and implementation of this Solution?
Stakeholder Map for public charging infrastructure (BABLE, 2021)
Market Potential
How big is the potential market for this Solution? Are there EU goals supporting the implementation? How has the market developed over time and more recently?
Implementation
Average implementation time: 0.5 - 1 years
Initial investment amount: 50,000 - 250,000 Euro for one or two fast-charging stations
Market Overview
The market of electric vehicles is a steadily growing market. Most public charging stations are funded and promoted by governments.
Costs and Charging Time
In general, increasing costs shorten the charging time. One reason is that increasing charging power requires grid updates, which lead to significantly increased investment costs.
But besides the increasing costs, low charging times allow more people to use the charger per day. That is why all public chargers from 3.6 kW AC to 62.5 DC, compete on a comparable cost level with approximately 1370–1800 EUR/kW regarding the costs per capacity. The 250 DC chargers cost level is less than half of this. But that applies only to a (fictive) full-time operation.
A fast charging station is designed for up to 75 users per day, while an AC charger for a maximum of four users per day. Hence, almost 20 slow chargers would be needed to equal one fast charging station. As DC-fast chargers are fully stretched they are the cheapest public option. Maintenance cost may be significant for on-street charging equipment, which is one reason for the low cost of a home charger.
Cost Structure
In general, there is an industry consensus that the cost of public charging units is trending downward and will continue to decrease. However, installation costs are highly variable and there is no consensus among industry stakeholders about the direction of future installation costs (US Department of Energy, 2015).
Charging Ports usually need an investment of:
- Level 2 AC ranges from 400 to 6500 USD, or
- DC fast charging ranges from 10,000 to 40,000 USD
and result in variable costs for the installation of:
- Level 2 AC ranges from 600 to 12700 USD, or
- DC fast charging ranges from 4,000 to 51,000 USD.
The following graphic gives an overview of different cost ranges.
Ballpark Cost Ranges (US DOE, 2015)
Legal Requirements
Relevant legal directives at the EU and national levels.
1) Regulation limiting freedom to operate:
Regulations on selling energy consumption-based:
- European regulation 2014/31/EU: provision of non-automatic weighing instruments
- 2014/32/EU: European Measuring Instruments Directive
(Intertek, 2015)
2) Safety regulations:
- IEC 61851: minimal electric security requirements for production and installation of charging infrastructure
- 2004/108/EG: regulation of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
- 2006/95/EC: security standards of the low-voltage directive
- ISO 19363: inductive charging, requirements for cars and safety regulations
(Intertek, 2013)