The EV Charging Infrastructure Virtual Conference was organized by MetaTech, which was a virtual conference comprising participants from EVSE space, energy companies, academicians, and consulting companies. The forum comprised small and medium companies.
As a speaker at the conference, I presented F&S capabilities on key opportunities arising within the V2X space, with a specific focus on recommendations for EVSE companies. I also discussed how Frost & Sullivan has been supporting the industry within this space with case study illustrations.
Here are the key takeaways and insights from the EV Charging Infrastructure Virtual Conference:
- Investment, financing, and consolidation are on the rise within the EVSE landscape.
- The last few years have been very dynamic within the charging infrastructure business due to economic uncertainties. A trend of a fragmented market taking the path of consolidation is around the corner.
- Activities in debt raise, equity raise, M&A, and securing energy for a portfolio of chargers are on the rise.
- Capital-intensive activities are noticed in private land AC/DC destination charging and HPC highway charging (the new segment is trucks).
- EV truck fleet lease + onsite installation + operation + maintenance + CS route network are the new sectors attracting investments.
- VC + PE firms are investing in development & construction companies, PE + Infra funds are investing in construction & operational projects and infra funds + pension funds are contributing to operational projects.
- Digital assets have high evaluations.
- V2X marketplace is on the rise. Good discussions derived on trends in the Midwest region.
- V2G platforms capable of scheduling, operation, reporting, event notification, site + building load monitoring, and all of this combined with analytics has a winning value proposition. The value is in customizing the platform for an SME or site.
- Business model – partnership model for charging stations, home integration, and front of the meter.
- Business case – Over 10 years about $56k swing in customer value. A single directional charger contributes to energy spends of $33.5k on average vs V2G chargers earning a $23k profit in the same period.
- Up to $400+ savings per billing year in Plymouth State University and $3k+ savings from demand response from the V2X charging platform in Roanoke Electric Cooperative.
- Critical element – software with no “downtime”.
- Challenges and Opportunities for widespread EV infrastructure network:
- USA has 170K charge stations vs 3.4M globally, significantly falling behind. By 2030, market potential is $100B+, GR 26% providing good opportunity.
- Insufficient coverage and uneven distribution create “charging deserts.”
- Reliability, accessibility, and compatibility issues (limited access and not all chargers fit for all).
- EVCS customer-centric software has tremendous opportunity. The key advantage is monetization for LNP (models of operations to monetize machines at a business).
- Business case: OWN & OPERATE – own 100% of revenue (vs current model of most charging stations having revenue sharing agreement with site hosts)
- Core revenue can be targeted from (a) Sales of energy (b) Amenities and (c) Marketing adds.
- Additional streams – (a) carbon credits (b) data sales [ever expanding use cases] and (c) funding, incentives, and rebates.
- EV technicians and training for E&E repair and servicing is the major challenge at the moment in the USA. Lack of skill is causing reliability, longer turnaround schedules, and technician shortages.
- Challenge from home charging installations is the development of reliable electrical contractors. Currently, the market is sporadic, with many options in the market and non-standardization, there is a certain degree of product misunderstanding and installation irregularities.
Conclusion:
The event highlighted the multifaceted challenges and innovative models required to build a strong EV charging station business case within the USA. The learning and knowledge sharing was satisfactory; however, a couple of exhibitors expressed a walk-in conference provides a better experience. Virtual booths do give a substitute for interpersonal connect but the old-school exchange of business cards has its place.
About Frost & Sullivan:
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