ChargePoint report says EV charger demand is outpacing supply
ChargePoint says demand for EV chargers is outstripping supply as EV sales continue and U.S. interest rebounds. CEO Rick Wilmer cites sustained charging RFPs, 96% EV retention and low-cost electric trucks as signs of future demand.
More than 1.8 million EVs had already been sold between the start of this year and the end of August, according to analysts. In the U.S., there has been a large uptick in drivers considering EVs they might have written off last year, because fuel prices keep escalating with no clear end in sight, according to the report. Charging infrastructure, however, continues to lag.
ChargePoint CEO Rick Wilmer said the North American market has been better shaped than many press reports suggest. "All in all, things are moving forward. I think the North American market has been better shaped than a lot of the press reports," he said. "Part of it is just the data we see in terms of the amount of RFPs that we receive for charging solutions. They haven't slowed down. We reported quarter over quarter growth in the last quarter we reported. And you look at the data around used EVs going up in price because the demand is so high. I saw a recent report… EV retention rates are 96 percent. So those folks that are putting their leased cars on the used market, they're not going back to gas, they're going to another EV."
Ars Technica noted that cheap electric trucks from Slate and Ford indicate further future demand for charging. Wilmer said interest in used EVs that are at parity with an equivalent gas vehicle shows appetite for EVs when the vehicle and price are right. "When you look at how much interest there is in the used EVs that are at parity with an equivalent gas vehicle, that tells you the appetite is there for EVs if it's the right vehicle at the right price point," Wilmer said. "So I think the auto OEMs, maybe not homogeneously, but they're figuring out what the market wants in North America, and they're starting to introduce those vehicles, which I don't think a lot of the forward-looking forecasts accommodate the fact that the product market fit is getting better coming out of the car companies."
The report arrives amid less optimism about EV adoption than a few years ago, though Ars Technica reported that the shift toward battery-electric vehicles continues.