EVs could eventually charge themselves

In the future, electric vehicles could charge themselves from the environment.

Meanwhile, about 60 million EV chargers may be deployed in the global market by 2029.

That’s according to IDTechEx Research’s new report Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure 2019-2029.

The report presents a 10-year market forecast of EV chargers by region (Europe, China, USA and Japan) and by type of charger (public or private).

It provides profiles of leading companies developing and commercialising EV charging infrastructure.

Some of the recent highlights of policies favourable for EV charging infrastructure globally are included as well.

The report on the state of the global EV charging infrastructure is prepared by IDTechEx principal analyst Franco Gonzalez.

Globally, EVs reached three million units at the end of 2017 – about 0.23% of the world’s vehicle population.

EV producers have responded to consumer’s range anxiety by increasing the available range to more than 320km. However, ultimately the deployment of EVs will depend on charger deployment too, the report says.

It presents an overview of the state of development of technologies for EV charging, including conductive, inductive, and capacitive charging.

The report presents the different charger topologies by different levels.

A comprehensive overview is included of the main charging standards (Chademo, CCS, Tesla, China GB dtd, India Bharat std), communication protocols and standards including an analysis of vehicle to grid (V2G) communication interphase.

Some of the key enabling technologies are presented such as semiconductor technology, fast charging, battery swapping and robotic charging.

The EV charging infrastructure value chain will evolve as the integrating of both EVs and renewable energy proceeds.

“There will be increasing requirements for operating the electricity network in a smarter way,” the report notes.

Concepts like demand side management and key enabling technologies like energy storage will have a key role.

The emergence of the autonomous, shared vehicle and ride hailing platforms will change the needs of charging infrastructure, the report adds.

IDTechEx believes that shortly after 2030 the world might reach peak car in relation with the emergence of autonomous and shared vehicles. It raises the point whether an autonomous vehicle (AV) will still require a human operated EV charger. Initiatives are under way to include technologies like inductive charging and robotic charging, while capacitive charging – which involves electric fields rather than magnetic – is a possibility too.

“We foresee a future in which electric vehicles will be capable of recharging themselves by harvesting energy from the environment and therefore become less reliant on grid-based charging infrastructures.”

Visit IDTechEx.com/evcharge for more information.