For a small country like South Korea, it is relatively fast to popularize pure electric vehicles. First, because the Korean auto market is basically monopolized by Hyundai Kia Motors, as long as they promote new energy vehicles, consumers can't buy anything else. The second is because of the construction of infrastructure such as charging stations, which are laid very quickly. Because the territory of South Korea is too small, it is equivalent to China's Jiangsu Province.
The number of electric vehicle charging stations will soon exceed the number of gas stations. Not only in the United States, but even in South Korea, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure is expanding rapidly without our knowledge. However, the charging pressure of electric vehicles continues.
There are several common pressures for people who have already bought or are planning to buy an electric car. One of the biggest pressures is charging time and charging infrastructure. Therefore, automakers and relevant government departments aim to expand the EV charging infrastructure every year and attract new EV owners.
This phenomenon is not only happening in South Korea, but also all over the world. However, interesting statistics were recently released in the United States. According to statistics, the number of electric vehicle charging stations will soon exceed the number of gas stations.
By 2021, about 110,000 to 150,000 gas stations are expected to open in the United States. However, an interesting fact is that there are already 110,000 electric vehicle charging stations. The situation is similar not only in the United States, but also in South Korea. As of June 2021, the number of gas stations in South Korea is estimated at 11,430 and the number of fast charging stations for electric vehicles is 10,831. This means that both the United States and South Korea have expanded as much as the number of gas stations in terms of the number of charging facilities. Even the above aggregate data is based on public fast charging, excluding personal fast charging or slow charging.
Some say that in South Korea, for example, about 70,000 to 100,000 electric vehicle charging piles have been installed across the country. At this point, about 1.5 chargers are assigned to every two electric vehicles. At gas stations, on the other hand, an average of 1,514 cars are allocated to each gas station. Still, complaints about eviction charging infrastructure remain inadequate.
First, charging stations are expanding slower than the growing trend of electric vehicles. In the United States, for example, about 16,000 electric vehicles were registered 10 years ago. As of 2021, the U.S. has sold up to 2 million electric vehicles. The industry predicts that this number will increase to 30 million vehicles by 2030. So the Biden administration's policy of installing more than 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 is not unreasonable.
However, the situation in South Korea is more dramatic. That's because the number of electric cars was only about 5,700 in 2015, but it surged 24-fold in just six to seven years. According to the survey, the number of registered electric vehicles last year has exceeded 200,000. At the same time, the number of internal combustion engines has gradually declined since 2015. At present, South Korean gas stations are also declining, although the decline is not yet obvious, but it is predicted that about 8500 gas stations may be closed by 2040.
As a result, EV charging infrastructure is slowly overtaking refueling infrastructure. On the other hand, although the number of electric vehicles is expanding rapidly, this proportion is still lower than that of internal combustion engines. Still, what are the reasons for complaining about the lack of EV charging infrastructure? The answer is simple. It's just the charge turnover rate. That's because each vehicle doesn't take more than 10 minutes to refuel, and charging even fast charging takes at least 20 to 40 minutes.
On the other hand, many people who own electric cars believe that the slow charging environment should be more extensive than the fast charging environment. On top of that, slow charging can reduce stress more effectively, as charging can consume excess time.
However, this is not the final solution either. The most suitable solution is to reduce the charging time to a level similar to refueling, which is an obvious solution, but now many car manufacturers are currently developing this technology, such as the use of all-solid-state batteries, theoretically not only the charging speed is improved, but also the protection of battery performance is better.
At the same time, the development of commercialization of autonomous driving technology can also reduce some pressure. If the automatic driving technology is advanced enough, then the car charging can be entrusted to the car itself, and the owner does not have to worry about the problem of charging, but it is not clear when the solid-state battery and automatic driving technology will be commercialized, so at present, only the infrastructure construction expansion, completely can not solve the pressure of electric vehicle charging, although the electric vehicle charging station and gas station as much, but the charging infrastructure construction is still facing a lot of pressure.