Rohan Puri argues for a data-driven approach to how electric vehicle charging stations are installed
Range anxiety has historically been the top reason prospective buyers remain loyal to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. More recently, however, another concern has come into focus as to why car buyers are avoiding EVs: despite the billions of dollars in recent investments by the public and private sectors, there remains a serious lack of public chargers. Their concerns are justified.
In these early stages of building out America’s public EV charging infrastructure, the placement of many stations seemed random. Owners and operators were experimenting to find the best approaches for making chargers both useful to drivers and financially viable for their businesses. Because of this, charger developers are stuck in a classic chicken-and-egg conundrum, where they wait for the growth of EV usage to justify building more chargers. All while EV purchasing stalls because of charging concerns, delaying profitability. For drivers, visiting chargers has become a high stakes guessing game. Many chargers do not work, or cannot connect properly, and those that do work often have long lines of frustrated drivers waiting for very few functioning chargers.
Logically, one would think these drivers could move on to another station elsewhere in their city or along their route. However, Stable’s data shows approximately 90% of all EV charging in the US is being done at just 10% of the stations in operation. These stations are popular for a reason and proof that the scattershot method does not work.
However complex this issue seems to be, there are a few things that operators can do today such as re-thinking where charging stations are built based on data and insights. As with any other real estate-based service, location is a key factor that can determine the difference between success and failure of an EV charging station. To date, methods for selecting sites for EV chargers are inadequate and not an exact science.
It is a mistake to assume that co-locating chargers with gas stations or other legacy infrastructure will mean a station is successful. A popular store may not make for a popular charging location. Instead, charging companies should consider the sum total of factors, including tariffs and incentives, nearby amenities, demographics, traffic, population density, EV penetration rates, and energy costs before choosing a charging site. These variables are continuously changing, and sometimes the correlation to utilisation can be unclear, but machine learning models available today can do the challenging work of adapting to those changes in real time to achieve true EV charging optimisation and scale.
As with any new innovation, EV infrastructure is bound to face challenges. Thankfully, these are challenges that can be solved by rethinking the process from the start. Setting EV chargers up for success from the get-go is essential and will allow for an improvement in the profitability and long-term viability of EV charging businesses. With the right data we can successfully expand access to charging and encourage more consumers to make the switch to EVs.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Rohan Puri is Chief Executive of Stable Auto
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