A new study by Deloitte indicates approximately one-fourth of U.S. car buyers expect their next vehicle to be total electric power or a hybrid electric.
The Edison Electric Institute reports more than a million EVs are on U.S. streets and highways today. The automotive industry believes that by 2030 the projected number of EVs in America will have soared to 18.7 million, requiring almost 10 million charge ports nationwide.
Today there are approximately 100,000 charging stations across the country, industry sources report. Tony Capucille, CEO and founder of EightTwenty, an Oklahoma City company that provides energy equipment and “solutions,” told Southwest Ledger that more than a thousand public charging stations have been built in Oklahoma.
Four public utilities with service territories in nine Midwestern and Great Plains states reportedly are collaborating with a coalition of six other utilities to build out an electric vehicle charging station network by the end of this year.
Ameren Corp., which started the initial effort in 2020, said the utilities plan to establish a network of EV charging infrastructure spanning about 1,200 miles from Detroit to Colorado.
Initial participants included OGE Energy Corp. subsidiary Oklahoma Gas and Electric; Evergy Inc.; CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary Consumers Energy Co.; DTE Energy Co.; Ameren subsidiaries Ameren Illinois Co. and Union Electric Co. doing business as Ameren Missouri.
New participants are Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. subsidiary Empire District Electric Co. doing business as Liberty Utilities; Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary MidAmerican Energy Co.; Duke Energy Corp. subsidiaries Duke Energy Indiana, Duke Energy Kentucky and Duke Energy Ohio; and Midwest Energy Inc., a Kansas electric cooperative.
Last month another collaboration among six primarily southeastern U.S. utilities announced plans to build a charging network along major highways within and between their service territories.
Those companies include American Electric Power Co., parent company of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which has more than 565,600 customers in 232 cities and towns in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma; Dominion Energy Inc.; Duke Energy’s North and South Carolina operations; Entergy Corp.; Southern Co.; and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Anxiety about a totally electric vehicle’s driving range and lagging infrastructure were the two greatest concerns of the Deloitte study participants.
Ÿ driving range: chief concern of 28% of those surveyed.
Ÿ lack of charging stations: 25%.
Ÿ cost/price premium: 20%.
Ÿ time required to charge an EV: 13%.
Ÿ safety concerns: 8%.
Ÿ lack of choice: 4%.
Ÿ other issues: 2%.
Most U.S. consumers who intend to acquire an EV (71% of those surveyed) expect to charge it at home. Another 14% expect to charge it on the street, 14% at work, and 3% at other locations.
Hacking into an EV and risking the personal safety of the driver or passengers was a concern of almost two-thirds of the Americans who were polled.
The 2021 Deloitte study included more than 24,000 consumer responses from 23 countries. Approximately 1,050 consumers were polled in 22 of the countries, while more than 1,500 were surveyed in Great Britain.
Of the 1,053 Americans who were surveyed, 28% of them were aged 18-34, while 33% were aged 35-55 and 39% were 55 or older, Deloitte reported.
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., a United Kingdom private company, its network of member firms, and their related entities.