The drive to electrify the transportation sector to meet emission reduction targets has rapidly gained ground but many roadblocks remain to wider adoption. Despite a 90% drop in battery costs and several hundred models available, EV sales are only 4% of the global fleet. Two main barriers to wider and faster adoption are scarcity of charging infrastructure and lack of capacity to produce enough batteries.1 Resolving both requires massive investment and unprecedented collaboration between public and private sectors. This is where BTY is working to make a difference.
The expansion of the EVs is creating a whole new ecosystem that will require massive investment in the simultaneous development of different types of infrastructure by multiple stakeholders.2
For example, the World Economic Forum estimates that to achieve a target of 290 million charging points by 2040, an estimated $500 billion in public–private investment will be needed.3 With nearly 8 million chargers available in 2019, the target represents an estimated 20% compounded annual growth.
In the U.S., the leading charging companies are privately owned, and utilities are mostly investor-owned. There are more than 3,000 companies – in 50 states with as many regulators – operating as regulated monopolies. In Europe, there has been a far greater focus on utility-owned public charger networks.
In both cases, there is a pressing need for increased collaborative public-private investment schemes to accelerate the development of charging infrastructure at priority locations. The growth of the EV ecosystem also requires the swift evolution of collaboration among charging-technology providers, original equipment manufacturers, operators, utilities, and renewable energy providers.
There is also significant investment opportunity in the EV battery manufacturing market. Batteries represent up to a third of EV vehicle costs, increased production would support lower costs for EV manufacture, which could contribute to wider EV adoption.
Producers from China, Korea and Japan dominate. Of 80 EV battery gigafactories globally, 46 are based in China. In 2018, companies outside these three supplied less than 3 percent of the total global demand. Only an estimated 1 percent was supplied by European companies.5
Both U.S. and European EV battery industries are looking to expand capacity with many new players entering the market, with many U.S. companies developing next-generation battery technologies.
BTY’s multi-disciplinary approach and extensive experience in supporting public-private partnerships in infrastructure development makes the firm particularly well suited for helping create such collaborative solutions.
The firm’s experience across key sectors in the EV ecosystem – transportation, renewable energy, manufacturing and telecommunications and technology — as well as real estate enables it to bring a unique range and depth of intelligence to solves the complex challenges to the growth of EV.
1 www.weforum.org
2 www.infosys.com
3 www.infosys.com
4 roboticsandautomationnews.com
5 www.mckinsey.com
