Overcoming The Biggest EV Challenge: Where Do We Charge Our Cars?
Rana Nawas
Corporate Strategist and Podcaster. Challenging today to create a better tomorrow.
Yesterday I had the privilege of discussing the challenges and opportunities around electric transport at #MobilityLiveME in Abu Dhabi on a panel with Hallie Liao, Philipp Thevaraj, Lukas Sokol, and Paul Welsford. A key point of conversation was the lack of public EV charging points. Here are my thoughts on how we can solve this – and what I think we should also be focusing on.
One of the main reasons people don’t invest in EVs is the lack of charging capability. People want to go electric but are often discouraged by the insufficient public charging infrastructure available. At Oliver Wyman, we’ve identified three barriers to having more charging infrastructure:
?
?
?
It is important to solve these issues in a pragmatic way that has real-world impact. We shouldn’t lose sight of the end goal of EVs: decarbonization. Building an EV emits twice as much greenhouse gas as building an internal combustion engine vehicle. However, EVs do not emit any CO2 during their operational lifetime, and so provide a significant net carbon reduction. However, this is only true if the electricity is generated from renewable sources; if you power your EV with electricity generated from hydrocarbons, you are doing more harm than good.
?
An exciting possible solution? The development of new forms of energy. There are a lot of disruptive technologies currently being worked on, for instance Uncharted Power, which is looking at harnessing kinetic energy as cars drive over the road. We tend to think of charging our EVs as a chore of plugging in and waiting – but what if we introduce completely new, wireless options?
?
That’s the power of technology and innovation – the next big idea might be right under your feet.
?
Founder at The Warrior Academy & The Bates Foundation | Operating across 8 countries in 4 continents | Sponsoring 4,000+ Orphans & Street Kids | Award Winning Entrepreneur | 2x Best Selling Author
1 年Absolutely fascinating discussion! Charging infrastructure is indeed a crucial aspect of the widespread adoption of EVs, and exploring innovative solutions, like the one you mentioned, can make a significant impact. Thanks for sharing your insights!
Leading Venture Capital Fund in DIFC | Strategic Advisor | Disruptive technology Enthusiast |
1 年Great insights. All three pointers mentioned in the article are just the problem of initial phase for mass adoption. EV business actually bring a larger network effect than anticipated.
Comment 2 of 2: On the environmental impact point (raised by some commentators) I tend to disagree. Yes, current battery technology relies on scarce and often environmentally problematic materials and there is no industrialized recycling technology available yet for the passenger car sector. But we see massive technological progress in the sector that will limit the use or entirely do away with the use of these materials and come up with better solutions. And there is currently no other industrialized technology available that allows for an efficient transformation to net-zero mobility at scale (and I hope everyone agrees that a continued deployment of combustion engines with fossil fuels is no option either).
Comment 1 of 2: I agree that insufficient charging infrastructure currently represents a barrier for the broad adoption of EVs. However, as the car park is growing strongly in many geographies the business case for charging is becoming significantly more attractive and we see that major companies from different sectors are getting ready to invest massively into this business. Therefore, I believe we look at a temporary problem, not a permanent one and certainly not one that will stop the evolution to carbon-neutral mobility. On the energy grid point I do agree that current energy infrastructure (especially local distribution grids) is not capable of handling the energy consumption in a fully electrified individual mobility world (especially when combined with electrified residential heating). There will be a need for significant upgrading of energy grids in combination with intelligent load management solutions.
Corporate Strategist and Podcaster. Challenging today to create a better tomorrow.
1 年Hallie Liao Philipp Thevaraj Lukas Sokol Paul Welsford