The transformation of the auto industry is in full swing
Electric vehicle (EV) charging is coming of age, with more regulatory and commercial certainty around battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption. This drives the need for a charging infrastructure, leading to a ~210m installed base of charge points in 2035. Overall, private alternating current (AC) or slow chargers will form the majority of the installed base as consumers prefer to charge at home or at work, where dwell time is higher.
Charging patterns and dwell times determine where people will charge and what infrastructure is needed. Destination and on-the-go charging represent the best use case for fast charging (DC, HPC), given a low consumer dwell time. As car and charger speed increases, average electricity throughput from fast chargers will also increase, improving the user experience through shorter charging sessions. Higher and increasing electricity throughput means public fast charging is expected to capture a significant and growing share of electricity demand towards 2035.
This report provides an overview of the underlying market drivers, value chain definition and key revenue pools as well as considerations for profitable growth going forward.
Main revenue pools
The EV charging value chain has six main revenue pools, ranging from charge point hardware to additional value-added services:
Charge point hardware
- Production/ sale of charge point hardware (AC and DC chargers) and necessary accessories, incl. wholesale and resell/financing margins
Charge point software
- Development of software to operate and monitor the charge point, i.e., Charge Point Management Systems (CPMS)
Land and assets
- Real estate rights and ownership of one or multiple charge stations with related CAPEX cost
Electricity provision
- Energy procurement contract (including GoOs)
- Local distribution system operation responsible for operating infrastructure necessary for electricity supply to the charge point station (at required power level)
Charger-related services
- Hardware service provision, incl. installing all charge point components
- Management/ operation of charge point network (sourcing electricity, maintenance, IT network, customer service etc.)
Add. e-mobility software-led value-added services
- Access to and administration of charging service to end-customers across multiple CPO networks (incl. roaming), i.e., E-Mobility Service Provider (EMSP)
- Other software-driven services
Seven ways to play
Across the six revenue pools, we see seven key ways to play tapping into one or more revenue pools.
Financial performance of selected ways to play
While most plays show strong growth (40+% p.a.), only few providers - mainly smart charge point providers - were able to realize an EBITDA so far. As the EV adoption increases globally and the EV charging market grows (market potential estimated to 100+bn EUR by 2035 excluding electricity sales), market participants across the seven ways to play will scale and become profitable. To enable profitable growth, focusing on select business model considerations dependent on ways to play will be key.
About the “EV charging market outlook“ report by PwC and Strategy&
The findings of this report are based on a customer survey with 3,000+ respondents from the US, Europe, Norway and China, interviews with industry executives and analysts as well as insights from work by PwC Autofacts® and data insights teams.
