Electric vehicle infrastructure companies have come a long way in the last decade, but they’re still just a small slice of the grid edge investment pie.
That’s the upshot of a new study from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables that tracks all known investments in companies building out the charging infrastructure and controls to enable a society-wide shift to electric transportation.
EV deployment itself has a robust growth story to tell. The global population of battery-powered passenger cars on the roads, including plug-in hybrids, passed 5 million last year. It has grown at more than 50 percent annually since 2013.
But investments in charging companies have not followed as consistent a trajectory, according to WoodMac’s analysis of disclosed deals. Big years in 2010 and 2011 petered out into several years of doldrums, with deals picking up again in 2017 and 2018.