The growth in the electric vehicle market will stagnate if there is a lack of underlying transport infrastructure including charging points, battery swap stations and smart grid technology, a new report suggests.
The latest research from energy market analyst, SBI Energy, suggests that government and manufacturer investment into expanding the market for electric cars will be wasted without further infrastructure investment. The firm predicts that as global economies slowly recover, manufacturers will begin electric vehicle infrastructure production in earnest from 2010 while electric vehicle production itself will be on track for global sales exceeding 1 million hybrids a year by 2013.
Furthermore, the firm predicts that it will be North America rather than Europe or Asia that will become the leader in electric vehicle infrastructure manufacturing by 2015. The current leader, Europe is predicted to retain its monopoly on the market only as far as 2014 as the North American market grows from $9 billion in 2009 to $20 billion in 2014.
SB Energy’s study ‘Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Manufacturing’, electric vehicle sales will depend upon the support of charging stations, batteries, and smart grid tie-in. Consumers will be won over to electric cars by reliability, safety, and system convenience. Therefore onus is on the cooperation of utilities to modify their established grids to adapt to the electricity demands of electric vehicles and their users.
"Our study projects North America will hold 20 per cent of the electric vehicle infrastructure manufacturing market by 2014, driven by government incentive programs and the movement toward eco-friendly consumer lifestyles," says Shelley Carr, publisher for SBI Energy.
"While government capital is vital, growth also depends heavily on the investment interests of the private sector and the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles by consumers,” she explains.
