Energy Pricing Models Will Dictate EV Take-Up
Future EV charging models will become the make-or-break factor in the consumer’s decision to buy into BEV transportation.
That’s according to Andrew Daga, CEO of wireless charger manufacturer Momentum Dynamics, a maker of wireless electric vehicle chargers, adding that significant changes will have to be made to the world’s electrical infrastructure.
Pricing changes
Daga thinks electricity pricing models are going to have to modernize and infrastructure will have to be developed if EVs are to become mainstream.
He explained: “You’ve got an ageing electrical grid around the world that was never designed to charge or to fuel moving vehicles. The models for charging for that electricity, for paying for that electricity are not the models we use today to pay for electricity. They’re going to have to shift to micro-transactions, many, many more micro-transactions, to keep track of all the different vehicles.
“You’re talking about hundreds of millions of vehicles with that kind of penetration rate that need to tie into the grid frequently with basically around the clock, 24-hour availability of electricity to those vehicles and very distributed infrastructure. So, the infrastructure is the limiting factor that will pop its head up and inhibit growth if it’s not built out.”
ICE takes a hit
Daga believes the automakers’ move to electrification is already seeing ICE powertrains having to take a back seat. He said: “They are now beginning to shed their losing assets, or their losing cost centers. They’re actually closing plants that make ICE drivetrain components, in the case of GM, and they’re opening new plants that are designed to make EVs or make batteries for EVs.
“The sooner they can drop the price of a battery by increasing the numbers that they produce, the faster they can get to profitability on the EV. Then you come back to the same old question, which will always be the question we return to, which is how will we fuel them?”
