Public EV Chargers Are Available Far Less Than Promised
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NEWS
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A 2024 study by ChargerHelp revealed that public Electric Vehicle (EV) charger uptime for a sample of 20,000 was only 73.7%, compared to a self-reported 84.6% from EV charger network providers. Range anxiety has long been a critical challenge for the EV industry to address to enable the EV transition. And while charging infrastructure continues to grow at steady rates, chargers must be operational more often for drivers to feel secure about their journeys. Currently, several infrastructural issues cause unavailability of chargers, including inaccurate station status messages, old equipment, broken retractor systems, broken screens, and inoperable payment systems.
Even when chargers are available to begin charging, various errors can lead to incomplete charging sessions, such as app errors, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system failures, or auto charge and plug-and-charge failures. Human errors play a part in incomplete charging sessions, too, but improving the error or 0 Kilowatt-Hour (kWh) session rates of Direct Current (DC) charging (which hover from 7% to 14% for the top Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) providers as of February 2025) is top of mind for stakeholders trying to improve the profitability of an industry that currently relies on subsidies and tax breaks in every market.
High Capital Costs and Poor Utilization Are Stifling the Profitability of Public EV Charging, and CPOs Don't Have Access to the Data They Need to Improve
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IMPACT
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High-powered DC charging units can range in cost from US$45,000 to above US$100,000, with installation costs reaching over
US$150,000 in some cases. With the added grid connection costs that can reach millions depending on the size of the charging site, Charge Point Operators (CPOs) and depot operators need to offer chargers with as high an uptime as possible to profit in this market. Without subsidies and tax credits, DC charging is very difficult to operate with a profit.
For CPOs to most efficiently address faults with chargers, they require data access from an EVSE partner through charger management systems or other software that enables them to find root causes of failures (like fuses or connectors). Currently, the amount of detail that CPOs are provided with varies from one EVSE supplier to the next. Some provide general failure statements, leaving operators to send engineers that can determine the precise point of failure, while others provide root causes, and still others provide access to pure back-end systems for complete data access. The variation in approaches is rarely a matter of hardware capabilities—rather, it is differing attitudes from EVSE suppliers about how open they are with their data, with some being more hesitant to open up data access than others. However, even the EVSE suppliers with more open models are shifting away from them, as monetizing extra services and data access is recognized as a potential avenue to improve profitability. This inconsistent or delayed data sharing practice between EVSE suppliers and CPOs slows down maintenance, extending downtimes and reducing charger availability. In the long term, this damages driver perception of EVs and leads to revenue losses for CPOs.
Some regulators and stakeholders have made efforts to standardize real-time data access from CPOs, such as the U.K. Public Charge Point Regulations that require data from CPOs to be freely available for EV drivers to allow them to find the right chargers when and where they need them. These data include charger locations, facilities, connector types, prices, and availability. The goal of this regulation is to achieve 99% reliability. However, this open data access does not extend to access to charger data by the CPO from the EVSE supplier, leaving out a critical part of the supply chain that can greatly improve operations. While some EVSE suppliers see monetization of these data as an additional revenue stream, the greater EV charging ecosystem suffers if CPOs aren’t able to provide reliable and user-friendly charging experiences.
Transparent Data Practices Will Drive the Entire Industry Forward, but EVSE Suppliers Don't Have to Lose Out on Revenue as a Result
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RECOMMENDATIONS
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Adopting standardized communication protocols like the Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI) or Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) plays one part in enabling simple communication between EV charging stations, charger management systems, and drivers/regulators. But this standardization does not matter if CPOs don’t pay for access to granular and precise charger data.
To ensure they can provide reliable services, there are several factors that CPOs can consider:
- Establish Clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with EVSE Suppliers: Defining expectations for uptime and maintenance response times allows CPOs to guarantee certain standards of service to their customers, even in the absence of open data access.
- Enhance Their Engineer/Technician Support: Many EVSE suppliers offer comprehensive training services to their CPO/depot partners to enable their engineers to conduct maintenance or servicing on their chargers. Taking advantage of this will reduce charger downtime. For CPOs without the operational capability to use this training, selecting EVSE with well-developed maintenance partners in their local regions will lead to a greater quality of service as a result.
- Make Data Access a Criteria of Assessment for EVSE Partners: While charger technology should remain a key factor in selecting an EVSE partner, the spread of approaches in charger data access will have a tangible effect on their operations. For some operators with more developed service and maintenance capabilities, it may be more effective to partner with more data-transparent EVSE suppliers.
If EVSE suppliers open up more charger data to their CPO partners without additional charges, that will harm their margins in the short term, but the long-term potential for charger sales open up missed revenue potential. Additionally, EVSE suppliers can offer other monetized services with key value propositions to further improve charger uptime, such as preventative maintenance capabilities in their charger management software. Utilizing real-time monitoring and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered error predictions can address issues before they cause charger downtime, saving CPOs time and money in lost charging revenue and saving EVSE suppliers time in engineer/technician support if needed.
