EV charging a bigger-than-expected problem

The most viable future for public fast charging: a loss-leader that tempts shoppers to buy things on which a profit can be made.

- David Fickling

When's the last time you visited a petrol station that sold nothing but petrol? If the answer is "never", you've hit on one of the key problems for the rollout of battery vehicles.

There's been a run of bad news for a promised rapid transition to electric cars in rich democracies. Volvo Cars had proposed one of the most aggressive shifts to a full-battery fleet by 2030. Last week it said would instead reduce conventional vehicles to less than 10 per cent of the mix, and would include in the remaining 90 per cent plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHEVS, which have both batteries and petrol-burning engines. Just hours later, Charge Point Holdings, operator of the largest US charging network, said it would cut jobs by 15 per cent, its third such reduction in the past year.

Many of these issues can be traced back to charging. It's no coincidence that China, with 70 per cent of the world's public car plugs, is where 60 per cent of the world's electric vehicles were sold in 2023.

The success of PHEVS relative to other EVs is an indicator of a burgeoning market of consumers keen for electrified transport but not yet convinced they can survive without a petrol backup.

To solve that problem, we need to fix the broken business model of public charging.

That will be easier said than done. Since the dawn of the automobile, selling just fuel has been a cursed business.