The electric vehicle (EV) industry is seen as a cornerstone of the Paris Agreement’s international campaign to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. After years of investing in research, development, and production, the emergence of the EV market over the last decade demonstrated a major breakthrough in consumer acceptance—highlighted by the industry’s rapid growth.
Led by Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), but closely followed by several leading car manufacturers, the seemingly booming EV market has started showing signs of a slowdown. Possible shifts in consumer attitudes have some with a vested interest in the industry’s long-term viability concerned that EV sales may be plateauing.
Sensing this, Volvo (ST:VOLVb), General Motors (NYSE:GM), and Ford (NYSE:F) each recently announced their own plans to rethink or scale back their EV expansion.
These shifts don’t symbolize a declining belief in the need to combat climate change or reform our energy consumption habits, but rather a general sense of frustration toward the lack of reliable charging infrastructure. Despite governmental initiatives in much of the developed world, there remains a severe lack of public charging stations—and it's worse for fast-charging pumps.
Inefficient charging infrastructure doesn’t just shed light on consumer fears around their battery dying in the middle of nowhere but it also highlights the pain drivers experience having to wait anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours for a full charge.
Outside of urban EV hotbeds like San Francisco or Oslo, reliability, resilience, and basic accessibility plague the charging infrastructure that EVs rely on.
New York Times reporter David Gelles, after a painstaking experience trying to charge a rental EV for a road trip across Middle America, concluded in a piece late last year that:
The U.S.’s “EV infrastructure is not ready for prime time.”
Ironically, the issues plaguing EV infrastructure are vaguely familiar.
Some might be surprised to learn that at the turn of the 20th century, in the early days of the automobile industry, some 38 percent of all vehicles in the U.S. were electric. Substantial discoveries of petroleum reserves in the opening decades of the 1900s partnered with poor charging infrastructure and limited range led to the growth and dominance of the gas-consuming internal combustion engines we know today.
Today’s EVs, as opposed to those from over a century ago, fare much better in the long run for one main reason. As an important piece in the net-zero strategy, there is an entire ecosystem supporting EVs that features government-backed initiatives, renewable energy integration, research into innovative battery designs, and more.
To maintain this momentum, the sector should always be on the lookout for innovative solutions and groundbreaking advancements that can help speed up the pace of electrification.
For example, StoreDot recently demonstrated its large prismatic battery cells are capable of charging from 10 to 80 percent in just 10 minutes without compromising on the battery’s durability.
This means that StoreDot’s silicon-based prismatic batteries, when compared to premium fast-charge models, cut the charge time in half, providing a real solution for charging anxiety. The company is currently undergoing extensive tests on its extreme fast charging (XFC) batteries with 15 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For those outside the auto industry, OEMs are companies producing parts and components for new vehicles, including manufacturers like Toyota (NYSE:TM), BMW (ETR:BMWG), and others. With its unique design combining high energy density and robust reliability, StoreDot’s XFC battery is ready for immediate integration with any OEM’s EV manufacturing strategy.
As a relatively new sector, the path to complete electrification within the auto industry is a marathon and therefore there will be hiccups along the way. A dip in sales is temporary if the industry, along with policymakers, can prioritize boosting charging infrastructure. This along with the decarbonization and expansion of electrical grids and harnessing the power of collaborations between innovative battery producers like StoreDot and leading automakers can help more drivers choose electric over gas-powered vehicles.