EV Charger Market Analysis
The data shows that the stock of new energy vehicles in Europe in 2021 was 5.483 million. However, due to multiple factors such as global pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions, chip shortages, and the energy crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the sales of new energy vehicles in 2022 are expected to be around 2.3 million. According to IEA statistics, the ratio of cars to charging piles has been on the rise over the past five years, increasing from 6.9:1 to 16.4:1.However, Europe also has a "fast" side. The distribution of public charging stations in Europe is particularly uneven, with most countries having a shortage of charging piles. In terms of total quantity, the top three countries in Europe with the most public charging stations are the Netherlands, Germany, and France, with 100,092, 78,729, and 65,700 charging stations respectively. However, another set of figures shows that some countries in Central, Eastern, or Southern Europe, although they have relatively few charging stations, are the key areas where fast charging stations and supercharging stations are concentrated.
For example, the proportions of fast charging stations in Poland and the Czech Republic are 42.6% and 37.7%, respectively. The proportion of fast charging stations in countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Slovenia is also much higher than that in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and the UK, which have a higher number of charging stations.
In Europe, charging stations are divided into three "tiers": the first is AC slow charging piles with a power of <22kW, the second is DC fast charging piles with a power of <100kW, and the third is HPC (high-power charging) piles with a power of >100kW.
From known data that the proportion of AC charging piles with a power of less than 22kW is very high, reaching 87%, while the proportion of DC piles with a power of 22kW-100kW is 10%, and the proportion of HPC is 6%. In the HPC range, in recent years, Europe has clearly surpassed China in the construction of high-power supercharging stations, with 150kW, 350kW, and even 480kW supercharging ports being rapidly deployed. In comparison, the proportion of DC fast charging piles in China is only 15%, and the highest proportion in the existing market is for DC piles with powers of 20kW, 60kW, and 90kW, with 120kW just entering the mainstream of the incremental market.
For example, Ionity, the second-largest electric vehicle charging service provider in Europe in the fast-charging field, began offering supercharging services with a maximum charging power of 350kW as early as April 2018. Its charging stations use the Combined Charging System (CCS) for charging, and the charging power can reach 350kW. In November 2021, BlackRock invested 700 million euros in Ionity, with the goal of expanding its supercharging network in Europe and increasing the number of high-power charging stations to 7,000 by 2025.
Electrify America, which is also positioned as a fast charging network, has also begun deploying high-power charging stations in the North American market. In 2018, Electrify America built the first ultra-fast charging station with a charging power of 350kW in California, USA, with most charging ports having a power of 150kW and two CCS plugs having a power of 350kW.
