A report from the International Energy Agency shows global electric car sales exceeded 10 million in 2022, that’s 14% of all new cars sold – up from 9% in 2021 and below 5% in 2022. The trend is continuing in 2023 with sales in Q1 up a massive 25% on the same period a year earlier.
There are many contributing factors including:
Another catalyst for overcoming consumer hesitation to ‘go EV’ is the scale, effectiveness, and practicality of the charging infrastructure. The rollout of public charging points was a balancing act between staying ahead of demand but not too far due to cost and rapidly advancing technology. Now, we see charging infrastructure is generally playing catch up.
EV charging is classified as one of three levels – levels 1 and 2 cover home charging options with the latter offering up to around 7kW to allow empty-to-full charging overnight – an important threshold. Home chargers rely on the car’s onboard charging circuitry to convert domestic AC mains to DC for the battery.
Moving forwards, the expanding network of Level 3 chargers is the real key. These fast and powerful stations currently deliver between 50kW and 400kW of DC power direct to the battery allowing 0 to 80% of full charge to be achieved in around 30 minutes…or a normal coffee stop on a long journey.
Many of Publitek’s clients offer exciting and enabling technologies for EV charging, including Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors and many other robust, high power active and passive components. We’re using our technology and communications expertise to build awareness and demand, enabling our clients to connect and engage with designers and decision makers for cleaner, more sustainable travel.
For more views on EV technology from inside Publitek, look out for upcoming commentary and opinion in the coming months.