EV charging under the spotlight

(General Electric)

A new report from market research analyst Pike Research has predicted that 4.7 million electric vehicle charging points will be installed around the world over the next five years as the first electric cars hit showrooms.

In its Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment report, Pike predicted that 974,000 stations would be installed in the US alone by 2015, the majority (64 percent) of them in private homes.

Outside of the US, in Asia Pacific and Europe, Pike believes that just 35 percent of charge points will be residential, with drivers relying far more on public infrastructure to charge their electric vehicles.

For US consumers, the availability of residential charging equipment will mean that fees for commercial charging will be lower, predicted the research firm.

However, the ratio of charging points to electric vehicles will be higher in Asia Pacific and Western Europe, due to the involvement of utility firms.

With the first mass-produced electric vehicles set to hit showrooms within months, the infrastructure requirements of such technology has assumed a new importance.

This week, US firm General Electric aired the first television spot for its new WattStation charger, just as a new report from market analyst Verify Markets predicted that EV chargers would drop in unit price by 50 percent in three to five years.

ECOtality, a Californian firm which plans to deploy 15,000 charging stations in 16 cities across the US, this past week unveiled plans for 1,000 in Oregon, saying that it was "creating the rich charge infrastructure needed to make electric vehicles a reality."

http://www.pikeresearch.com/
http://www.verifymarkets.com
http://www.ecotality.com
Watch GE's Ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7lKaAB5Dg