- With World EV Day™ underway, Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s EV charging ecosystem branch and official partner of World EV Day™, Konect, has called for a significant growth in global EV charging infrastructure, ahead of 2030.
- The firm has warned that the rate of public EV charger installations is six times behind the level required by 2030, in order to meet both increasing driver demand and various government regulations, and that without change, important markets will not have adequate infrastructure to facilitate a large scale transition to electric vehicles.
- Konect, which was launched by Gilbarco Veeder-Root just months ago, has the solution to open doors to this growth, by offering a rapidly-deployable, all-in-one charging system to assist both fuel retailers and fleet operators.
Konect ready to grow EV charging infrastructure
Konect has warned that the critical EV markets of the US, Mainland Europe, and the UK will all fall short of the public charging infrastructure required by 2030, if current growth is not increased. The US currently has just under 200,000 public charging points, but will require another one million by 2030, according to McKinsey. In Mainland Europe, approximately 630,000 points have already been installed, but the European Commission is targeting 3.5 million charging points by 2030. The region is currently three times below the annual installation rate required to hit this figure in time. The UK will also need the number of charging points to increase from the current circa-70,000 points to 300,000 by 2030 – which will be crucial for the country to smoothly and successfully deliver on its 2030 ZEV mandate.
There are reasons for this lack of installations – with Konect citing profitability concerns as a reason to why some fuel retailers have been hesitant to install EV charging points, particularly in the areas of cost of installation, ongoing support, and keeping high charge point uptime. On a survey ran by Konect, answered by multiple CPOs, it discovered that 71% found it difficult to record charge point downtime at their sites, whilst a further 57% stated that a lack of support from service partners was the biggest barrier to improving their uptime.
For World EV Day™, the company has reiterated its position that it is ready to help fuel retailers and CPOs in these key markets to add EV charging to their businesses, in a profitable, straightforward way, which it says are in a perfect position, thanks to the retailers already existing in high-traffic locations, and having existing amenities, like on-site shops and ancillary equipment such as air pumps and car washes. By coming to Konect for a turnkey EV charging solution, which ranges across all stages such as site planning, hardware installation, software integration, and ongoing maintenance, the firm also hopes to play a significant part in plugging that global charging point deficit, ahead of 2030.
Om Shankar, Vice President & Global Manager of Konect, commented on the figures:
“At current installation rates, key global EV markets won’t meet the public charging infrastructure needed to meet growing EV demand. We know that most EV drivers currently plug in at home, but there’s a second cohort of buyers, beyond the early adopters, that don’t have the same facilities.
As EV technology improves, costs go down and range goes up – more people will make the switch. We must match this progress with the right amount of readily available public charging. We need some logical thinking on the placement of new charge points – ideally, locations that are already familiar and convenient for car drivers. That’s the golden opportunity for the existing fuel retail network.
However, the industry needs to remove key blockers to effective service in order for fuel retailers to build a business case for reliable and profitable EV charging. In a survey of multiple charge point operators, Konect discovered that over 71% find recording charge-point downtime at their sites challenging, with well over half (57%) identifying support from service partners as the biggest blocker to improved uptime.
We know that providing an easy and reliable public charging experience is critical to the electric vehicle transition. Konect has the technology and expertise to support fuel retailers and CPOs through the electrification transition by delivering reliable, user-friendly infrastructure for drivers, while boosting ROI and enhancing time to value.”
