For subscribers
EV charging a bigger-than-expected problem
The most viable future for public fast charging: a loss-leader that tempts shoppers to buy things on which a profit can be made.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Governments have vastly underestimated the work they need to do to get fast charging off the ground, says the writer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
David Fickling
Follow topic:
When’s the last time you visited a petrol station that sold nothing but petrol? If the answer is “never”, you’ve hit on one of the key problems for the rollout of battery vehicles.
There’s been a run of bad news for a promised rapid transition to electric cars in rich democracies. Volvo Cars had proposed one of the most aggressive shifts to a full-battery fleet by 2030. Last week it said would instead reduce conventional vehicles to less than 10 per cent of the mix, and would include in the remaining 90 per cent plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHEVs, which have both batteries and petrol-burning engines. Just hours later, ChargePoint Holdings, operator of the largest US charging network, said it would cut jobs by 15 per cent, its third such reduction in the past year.
