The usage rate of charging piles in the United States has finally increased.
As U.S. electric vehicle sales grow, average utilization rates at many fast-charging stations nearly doubled last year.
San Francisco-based Stable Auto is a startup laying out electric vehicle infrastructure for businesses. According to the company’s data, the average utilization rate of fast charging stations operated by non-Tesla companies in the United States doubled in 2023, from 9% in January 2023 to 18% in December. In other words, by the end of 2023, each fast charging pile in the United States will have an average daily plug-in time of nearly 5 hours.
Brendan Jones, CEO of Blink Charging, which operates about 5,600 charging stations in the U.S., said: “We’re at 8% usage, which is not nearly enough. .”
The increase in usage is not only an indicator of the popularity of electric vehicles, but also a bellwether for the profitability of charging stations. Stable Auto estimates that the utilization rate of charging stations must be around 15% to achieve profitability. In this sense, the surge in usage represents the first time a large number of charging stations have become profitable, Stable CEO Rohan Puri said.
Cathy Zoi, former CEO of EVgo, said on an earnings call in September 2023: “This is very exciting, and we believe that the profitability of the charging network will reach a peak in the future.” EVgo in There are about 1,000 sites operating in the United States, and nearly a third of them were operational at least 20% of the time last September.
For a long time, electric vehicle charging has been in an awkward “stalemate” state. The low penetration rate of electric vehicles has restricted the development of charging networks. “Cars cannot catch up with wires” has always been a dilemma for the US charging pile business. Especially in the United States, vast interstate highways and conservative government subsidies have limited the pace of expansion. Charging networks have struggled for years as the adoption of electric vehicles has been slow, and many drivers have even refused to buy electric vehicles due to a lack of charging options.
This disconnect gave rise to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Initiative (NEVI), which just began doling out $5 billion in federal funding to ensure there is a public fast-charging station at least every 50 miles along major transportation thoroughfares across the country.
These funds have been allocated sparingly so far, but the U.S. electric ecosystem is already beginning to strike a balance between wires and cars. In the second half of last year, U.S. drivers welcomed nearly 1,100 new public fast-charging stations, a 16% increase, according to a Bloomberg analysis of federal data.
“There is a general consensus in the industry that fast charging is not a profitable business,” Puri said. “But what we are seeing is that for many charging stations, that view is no longer true.”
In some states, the utilization rate of charging piles is already much higher than the national average. In Connecticut, Illinois and Nevada, fast charging requires plugging in for 8 hours a day; the average utilization rate of charging piles in Illinois is 26%, ranking first in the United States.
Importantly, even as thousands of fast charging stations come online, usage of these stations is still increasing significantly, meaning EV adoption is outpacing infrastructure development.
However, revenue from charging stations will not always rise. Brinker’s Jones said charging stations become “very busy” once utilization approaches 30%, and when utilization reaches 30%, operating companies receive complaints.
While insufficient charging previously caused negative feedback for the adoption of electric vehicles, this has now changed. Improved economics for charging networks, and in some cases federal funding, will give them more confidence to expand. In turn, more charging stations will boost sales of electric vehicles.
To determine whether a location is suitable for installing fast chargers, Stable Auto analyzes 75 different variables, chief among them how many charging stations are nearby and how often they are used.
Charging options will also expand this year as Tesla begins opening its Supercharging network to cars made by other automakers. Tesla accounts for just over a quarter of all fast-charging stations in the U.S., though its sites tend to be larger, so about two-thirds of the wires in the U.S. are dedicated to Tesla ports.
On February 29, Ford announced that starting from now, Ford electric vehicle customers can use more than 15,000 Tesla Supercharging piles in the United States and Canada.
It is reported that Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E retail customers have become the first non-Tesla automakers to use Tesla Supercharging stations in the United States and Canada.
Last June, Tesla struck a similar deal with General Motors, giving GM customers access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada. CEO Mary Barra said at the time that the partnership would save the company up to $400 million in investment in plans to build electric vehicle charging stations.
Analysts pointed out that Tesla’s cooperation with other companies will bring huge returns to it. Analyst Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said this will ultimately bring huge economic benefits to Tesla, including environmental points and charging costs.
Susie
Sichuan Green Science & Technology Ltd., Co.
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Post time: Mar-19-2024
