Key take aways from the electric vehicle (EV) industry at the recent EV Summit 2024 in Oxford

As a leading vendor in this space, Dodona Analytics had the pleasure of attending the prestigious EV Summit 2024 in Oxford two weeks ago, described by some as the “Davos for eMobility”.

Reflecting on the packed agenda and the great content that was shared by all of the speakers, as many of us in the industry are observing, the EV space is rapidly evolving but facing a variety of hurdles as it does. Shifting its focus from the early adopters of electric vehicles, the industry is clearly looking to transition into the mainstream and establish a successful and sustainable EV infrastructure and I came away with three key takeaways from these sessions:

Adoption – Transitioning to The Early Mainstream

A clear focus of this year`s agenda was the need to transition from servicing the early adopters of electric vehicles to driving mainstream growth. This leap has not yet been made, with the industry finding itself stuck at an early adoption threshold of 15/16%. When and how the tipping point will come is a hot topic, with affordability , customer experience, and of course the available EV charging infrastructure all playing important roles in encouraging adoption on a far larger scale.

Opening keynote speaker Marc Palmer , Head of Strategy and Insights for Auto Trader UK walked us through the from first half of 2024 in regards to used EV interest, sales, and potential barriers to adoption, noting that

“People need reasons to move [over to EVs], but what they’ve been hearing is reasons not to move. We are making progress on the barriers, remembering that the next couple of years are so important, if we don’t remove the barriers before those thinking about an EV change their car, we could lose them until the change after that, which could be in or around 2030.”

Customer Experience – Connecting the Dots

The owners of electric vehicles and their expectations surrounding the charging experience are coming to the forefront for Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and other members of the EV value chain. As in most other industries, convenience for the customer will become a key driver, or indeed a potent deterrent when it comes to adoption. The event highlighted a clear disconnect between CPOs, MSPs (Mobility Service Providers, facilitating charger payments) and other key industry players, which needs to be resolved in order to meet consumer expectations surrounding the EV charging experience, not least when it comes to aspects such as payment and unreliable charging wait times.

Chris Pateman-Jones , CEO at Connected Kerb and Chairperson for ChargeUK , put the challenges surrounding the EV customer experience down to the charging infrastructure still lagging behind EV sales , with panelists highlighting this as an area where the whole industry needs to work together in order to create a positive customer experience.

Infrastructure – Getting out of Gridlock

A third and final takeaway from the summit is of course the need for a solid and sustainable EV charging infrastructure . Speakers and panelists spoke of ensuring the reliability of EV infrastructure and minimizing downtime through the use of innovative technology and maintenance strategies.

North America expects to see 35 million EVs on its roads by 2030. “…That′s also 35 million batteries” states Marc Coltelli , Managing Director for the Americas and Global Emobility Leader at EY, highlighting that this demands a much improved grid capacity from a grid which is already under strain.

“One of the biggest challenges is that manufacturers, CPOs, payment providers, service partners, there is a disconnect at the minute, and there definitely could be more collaboration to get the industry aligned… This shouldn’t just be on the CPO. Everybody needs to be brought in to improve the uptime on the network.” – Elizabeth Warren , Interim Director of Public Charging at Mer .

This issue will need to be addressed in nearly every EV market, not just in the US, where current infrastructure is simply not ready to support the future number of EVs expected to use it in order to keep us on the move every day.

Conclusion

If, like us, you are passionate about the EV industry and where it is headed and you get the opportunity you should definitely attend the event, I will also be attending their US Summit in October, so hopefully we can meet up there.

—There was of course so much more to unpack and you can do so here, with live footage of EV Summit 2024 speakers and panels .