With government policy and investment driving automotive companies toward plug-in vehicles, as a new report from Lux Research puts it, the technology for delivering electricity to these vehicles will rise to a US$1.2bn market by 2020. Lux Research developed a forecast using vehicle sales to project the global electric-vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) market. Overall, despite the slow adoption to date of EVs, the publisher expects the charging station market to grow in unit sales from around 120,000 units in 2012 to 1.3 million in 2020, rising from a value of US$140m in 2012 to US$1.15bn in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 30%. “Success for EVSE will ultimately follow the success of electric vehicles,” says Kevin See, Lux Research Senior Analyst and the lead author of the report, entitled Charging Ahead: Finding Reality in the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Market.
Lux Research analysts studied a web of partnerships in the EVSE market, besides building a forecast for its growth. Among their findings:
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Europe will lead the market with 480,000 annual charger sales by 2020. China will forge ahead after an initially slow start to reach annual sales of 277,000 by 2020.
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EVs in China will consume 1.9TWh of electricity, or 23% of all energy consumed, the largest proportion of energy in any individual country.
Lux says automotive OEMs such as Ford, Daimler, BMW and Nissan are forming the core of EVSE partnerships, with complex interconnections with emerging companies such as Coulomb Technologies (a recent recipient of BMW investment) and utilities.
