The Charge Point Dilemma: Location and Reliability

New purchases of electric vehicles (EVs) are slowing. But even at a lower adoption rate, the reality of the EV driver´s charging experience suggests that the charging infrastructure just can´t keep up. While western governments are looking to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles altogether, the driving public seems uncertain as to why and when their next car purchase should be an electric one. 

It’s a dilemma reminiscent of the chicken vs the egg. The EV industry is struggling to supply the number of chargers needed by those EVs currently out on the streets, while also working towards mass market adoption. The market will only achieve meaningful growth, however, once consumers feel confident that a new EV purchase is a sensible one.

A far cry from a simple fuel station being able to serve almost every vehicle type, the EV charging experience is a little more complex. It is currently not a given that the drivers of EVs can feel assured that their charging needs will be reliably met wherever they go. In the US alone, it has been reported that the second half of 2023 saw nearly half of existing DC charger stations experience at least one significant outage (defined as a full continuous week of downtime) and 10% of stations saw extended outage durations of 9 weeks or longer.

So for the driving public considering an EV purchase, it is not unreasonable to question the reliability of the charging experience. Will a suitable charge point be available to them where they are going? Will that charge point require yet another payment app download? And will that charge station even be able to deliver the necessary charge within the promised time?

Location – Ensuring a reliable EV charging experience

The bottom line is that EV charging infrastructure is crying out for more charge points in the right locations. While the UK has recently seen an increase of 46% in public charge points, this still falls rather short of the 300,000 hoped for by 2030. At the recent EV Summit 2024 it was clear that the industry is aware of the unreliable nature of the EV charging experience, and how it must be solved through tighter collaboration between all stakeholders in the EV charging value chain, from planning to the deployment of charging stations.  

The better and more considered the placement of charging hubs, the more a customer can rely on them.  

Key factors for CPOs to consider to enhance charging reliability:

• Grid capacity
• Charger type
• Payment system
• Maintenance capabilities

You might have guessed it but the sum of these factors, and more, will naturally rule out many locations as being viable and sustainable for CPOs. And rightly so, as if CPOs continue to pump time, funds and services into deploying the wrong type of chargers to charge stations where the power grid simply cannot supply the necessary power necessary, or so far outside their servicing capabilities, then the much hoped for market boom will continue to be just out of reach.

The good news is, of course, that this leaves a lot of opportunity for those CPOs wanting to get it right. If you can ensure that the right charger is available to EV drivers at the right time and place, that it is well supplied by the power grid and you have the maintenance network to resolve any on the ground issues, then you will be delivering the kind of charging experience will only encourage EV adoption.

As an EV Charging Optimization Platform, Dodona Analytics is a leading EV network-planning platform for charging infrastructure, helping CPOs deploy many tens of thousands of chargers every year. The Dodona eMobility Platform (DeM) AI models, armed with relevant EV-specific data, assess hundreds of sites and provide insights into each one’s feasibility, viability, and timing. This empowers CPOs to answer three questions:

Can we deploy? Should we deploy? And where should we start? 

Reach out to see how we could help you improve the reliability of the EV charging landscape.