Across the global electric vehicle (EV) industry, one obstacle seems to consistently be hindering the rollout of clean mobility solutions. This issue happens to be EV charger reliability.
The geographies discussed in this article, the US and the UK, have both been plagued with issues when it comes to reliability of their chargers. But it is worth noting that governmental legislations have also been imposed to provide a boost to this area. But will it be enough to spur growth in adoption rates?
Drawing on commentary from industry experts, Current± will explore the topic highlighting why this is such a big issue for the industry and how it is currently being solved. For those who also wish to learn more about EV charger reliability in the US, Solar Media will be hosting the EV World Congress USA event soon – a topic that is expected to be on the lips of many.
EV charger reliability in the UK
In the UK, EV charger reliability has been at the forefront of recent developments to support the decarbonisation of the nation’s transportation sector.
The woes of UK EV charger reliability was discussed at the Current± Briefings: Maintaining EV charging confidence through maintenance webinar earlier this year.
One of the biggest arguments is that the tools used to manage the maintenance of EV chargepoints are often immature, and it’s usually carried out manually, allowing inaccuracies to creep in and taking a significant amount of time to inform all the relevant parties needed to begin to fix the asset, for example.
Karl Jacoby, CEO of Techniche noted in the Current± Briefings: “EV chargers are essentially IoT assets on steroids, generating a range of error codes connected to the cloud,” he said in Thursday’s session.
“We envision a future where the assets can generate their own repair tasks, both predictive and reactive, to both reduce cost and time to repair.”
Going forward, to minimise some of the concerns around EV adoption, ensuring that the charging network is dependable will be essential.
“Maintaining EV charging confidence is not enough,” said Jacoby, “we believe it’s all about improving confidence, and that means improving reliability.”
The need to increase charger reliability has also seen the government intervene to introduce new efficiency measures. In July 2023, The UK government introduced new regulations aiming for rapid EV chargers to achieve 99% reliability.
The document released at the time read: “The reliability requirement is that the network of rapid chargepoints is, on average, reliable for 99% of the time during each calendar year.”
Boosting this reliability could be a pivotal moment for adoption rates. By increasing the number of working chargers, this could help eliminate some of the anxiety that surrounds EVs and ultimately support the transition to clean mobility.
EV charger reliability in the US
EV charger reliability in the US is expected to become an increasingly important topic of conversation amongst drivers and the wider industry. Highlighting the importance of ensuring chargers are reliable, Brent Gruber, executive director, electric vehicle practice at JD Power said that charger reliability in the US is already impacting considerations of purchasing EVs.
“We don’t tie charger reliability to EV adoption, but we do capture the influence that public charging availability has on the consideration to purchase an EV,” says Gruber.
“From our Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study, which looks at the broader market to evaluate EV consideration rates among consumers who are in the market (purchase within the next 12 months), we see that among consumers who have rejected the idea of purchasing an EV, the lack of available public charging is the number one reason for rejection. This has been the case for two straight years.”
As showcased by Gruber here, it is clear the extent of the damage that is being done to the US EV industry. By not having sufficient infrastructure to support the increasing adoption rates of EVs, the US could be left behind in the global race.
Gruber also provides further analysis in terms of the actual charger reliability in the US, stating that “one in five” visit to a charger ends in being unable to charge the EV.
“Our 2023 US Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study shows that one in five visits to a charging station ends without being able to charge. We have been tracking this quarterly since the beginning of 2021 and see that it reached this level in early 2022 and has not improved much since then,” Gruber says.
The result of this has led to low satisfaction levels for EV chargers in the US. This could have a severely detrimental effect on adoption rates across the nation – something that has been a particular highlight for the US. However, there is a need, much like in the EU and UK, to scale reliable charging infrastructure to cater for this rising demand.
Gruber says: “Satisfaction with public charging in the US is quite low. A key driver of that dissatisfaction is the lack of available chargers. Right now, EV adoption is growing at a rate that is more than three times faster than charger installation growth, so the issue with charger availability is becoming more pronounced.”
Current± publisher Solar Media is hosting its EV World Congress USA event in San Diego this 1-2 November. The conference will focus on some of the key discussion points from the US EV sector including the rollout of a nationwide charging network, innovation within the sector, how business models can adopt electric fleets and more. More information, including how to attend, can be read here.
