While growth in the residential segment of the EV charging market tends to grow alongside EV sales, the commercial segment depends more on workable business models and, in some regions, government policy.
These differences aside, revenue in both segments is expected to increase in the coming years as the industry for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) continues to evolve.
According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide revenue from electric vehicle charging services is expected to total $11.3 billion from 2014 to 2023.
“The residential charging market is entering a phase where chargers are simply a commodity, with a focus on bringing down the price,” says Lisa Jerram, principal research analyst with Navigant Research. “Meanwhile, the commercial charging market is in a state of flux, experimenting with different business models, including free charging to draw in customers, fees for usage, and the use of advertising, hoping to find the most viable options for long-term growth.”
A key barrier preventing further growth in the commercial charging market is a lack of interoperability, from the inability of stations to connect with each other across multiple networks to the challenge of paying for network access, according to the report. Though the EVSE industry has made efforts to resolve interoperability issues by adopting open standards, the issue remains important, as it allows equipment to be centrally managed regardless of hardware and charging station information to be aggregated and shared with drivers regardless of software and systems.
