BTC Power’s survey of EV charging infrastructure customers reveals some surprises

We all know that the commercial EV charging industry is maturing, and that EV charging is increasingly considered critical infrastructure. But what are the reasons companies are deploying charging infrastructure, and how do execs view the future of government incentives?

Commercial EV charging system manufacturer BTC Power has released findings from its State of EV Charging survey, a proprietary study of more than 200 commercial decision-makers in the US who are deploying EV charging infrastructure across retail, fleet, hospitality, corporate campuses, fueling/convenience stores, and multi-family housing.

According to the company, the data from the survey “signals a market that has crossed a critical threshold.” Some 94% of respondents report that EV charging has become essential to how they operate and compete, and 97% plan to increase EV charging investment.

However, there are still significant roadblocks along the road to electrification, and as BTC points out, the way organizations deal with these challenges may separate leading operators from those left behind.

“Performance and reliability now outrank cost as the primary reasons charging network operators change vendors,” said SJ Oh, Chief Revenue Officer, BTC Power. “That tells us the EV charging market has matured beyond a lowest-price mindset. Decision-makers have experienced installations that failed to meet expectations, and they now recognize that the true cost of unreliable hardware—downtime, maintenance, lost revenue and poor driver experiences—far exceeds any upfront savings.”

A couple of findings from the survey may be surprising to some.

Despite the US government’s well-publicized hostility to EVs, 90% of BTC’s respondents expressed confidence that government and industry policies will sustain EV charging growth. Federal tax credits, NEVI funding and utility incentives influence 61% of deployment plans, and state incentives affect 58%.

In today’s cynical world, many might assume that corporate decision-makers think only of the short-term bottom line. But BTC’s survey found that environmental sustainability was tied with customer demand as the top driver of EV charging adoption, at 46% of respondents, outpacing revenue generation (36%) and fleet transition (32%).

Less surprising: some 60% of decision-makers prefer a full-service partner that handles all phases of infrastructure deployment, from planning through ongoing support, while only 17% said they prefer a hardware-only provider.

“A few years ago, sustainability was the reason companies started looking at EV charging. Now it is one of several reasons they cannot stop,” Oh said. “Among corporate campuses specifically, 55% cited ESG progress as their top realized benefit from EV charging programs, the highest single-category score across all facility types in the survey.”

Source: BTC Power