Opportunities to Modernize the Electric Grid and Address the Challenges of Rapid EV Penetration
The North American Electric Vehicle (EV) market has seen significant growth over the last 5 years, both in the US and Canada. Currently, new EVs sold in the North American market account for 1.4% of the total passenger vehicles sold. There is an anticipation that downward prices for batteries and vehicles, along with improved infrastructure will accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. This is further being pushed by state- and city-level commitments to clean energy and response to climate change.
Current projections suggest that EVs are expected to reach price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles by 2025. This will roughly translate to 8% of new cars registered to be EVs by 2024, which is equivalent to 0.8 million EVs in North America. Preparations are taking place both at a local government/city, regional, and utility levels for accommodating this trend. In the short-to-mid run, the emphasis is on introducing new policies and evaluating the current grid infrastructure to determine the best approach for minimizing grid disruption. In the longer term, these entities are discussing and evaluating how EVs can be leveraged on for improving the integration of renewables and future smart city level applications.
This positive development is, in return, generating new opportunities for advancing existing Transmission and Distribution (T&D) offerings such as demand-side management, asset management, smart transformers, as well as introducing completely new approaches for successfully integrating EV infrastructure. Much work lies ahead for the industry. However, priorities and approaches are region-specific, based on existing clean energy policies and penetration of EVs.
Research Scope
The scope of the study predominantly focuses on utilities and elaborates their initiatives and programs targeted at mitigating the impacts of increased electricity load as a result of a growing EV fleet in the region. Forecast estimates of product markets have been provided until 2024, supporting a select number of strategies that utilities are adopting. The geographical scope of the study includes only North America.
Research Highlights
The key objective of this research study is to analyze and understand how the growth in EVs will impact the grid infrastructure and utilities and the key strategies they use to address these impacts.
Key Issues Addressed
- What is the energy demand requirement due to the addition of EV? What will be the impact on the grid?
- What are the different strategies required to overcome this?
- What is the current and the future penetration and what are the trends in the electric vehicle market in North America?
- What are the top growth opportunities for the utilities involved in the EV ecosystem?
- What are the investment trends of the stakeholders in the EV space?
- What are the implications on the value chain and how are they expected to react?
