In this post, I highlight some of the best thought-leadership articles and reports that cross my desk. I note why they rise to the top of the pile and are worth reading (or skimming), even if they focus on functions or industries outside your areas of interest. Among the criteria I use to make the selections are freshness and provocativeness of insights and timeliness, analytical rigor, depth of prescriptions, and overall readability.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular around the world as a way of combatting climate change. In the United States, the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives that should encourage the manufacturing and purchasing of EVs. The US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2022 provides $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure as well as more than $7 billion for the minerals supply chains necessary for batteries, components, materials, and recycling.
In recent months, professional services firms have published extensively on EVs, including on the batteries that propel them, the charging infrastructure necessary to support them, and implications for various industries and geographies. This edition of the Gold Standard highlights some of their more interesting work.
Back to top
In this Europe-focused report, the authors look at the implications of EVs on sales and aftersales and service. To do so, they review how Tesla has revolutionized new-car sales (“its sales journey is typically simpler, faster, and has a higher conversion rate than that of its competitors”) and then turn to Norway’s experience in aftersales (“If no action is taken, profits could collapse by 50 to 60 percent”). They conclude with a discussion about how traditional automakers might respond.
Electric Vehicle Charging Shifts into High Gear”
This is one of several pieces of content on the EV charging market. Its biggest contribution is breaking down the EV charging value chain.
“We see seven distinct business models in the emerging EV charging ecosystem,” the authors note. “The simplest model is one focused purely on hardware or software. Others bundle different elements of the charging value chain. Charging solution providers, for example, combine hardware, planning, and installation. Charge-point operators install and operate charging stations. The US-based company ChargePoint Inc. provides an open charging network that serves all electric car models and offers a one-stop shop for businesses that want to install a charger, including annual subscriptions for tools, data, payment processing, and driver support.”
Accenture
Bain & Company
Electric vehicles on the rise
leaves of absence. Some 60 percent of women compared with 45 percent of men have declined a role because of their caregiving responsibilities.
• There are too few role models and peers to help support and
guide them.
• They perceive a greater pressure to prove their skills—and
tech skills in particular—than men.
The Lithium-Ion (EV) battery market and supply chain
Roland Berger
This is an interesting graphic treatment of the market for lithium-ion batteries and the associated supply chain. The author has assembled an impressive collection of exhibits offering detailed cost breakdowns, demand forecasts, and analysis of the environmental impact of battery manufacturing.
As e-mobility accelerates, can utilities move EVs into the fast lane?”
EY
This article examines the role of utilities in supporting increased use of EVs in Canada and the United States. A key issue for utilities is how to avoid ceding the EV charging market to competitors and to figure out how to “own” the customer.
“For utilities, rising EV uptake may be something of a double- edged sword,” the authors write. “Too many EV drivers plugging in just as energy needs peak will heighten demand and intensify the negative impact on the grid. While the addition of electricity load from EVs is a good thing from the utility’s perspective, it comes with an obligation to mitigate the problems that accompany it.”
“
“
Building an EV Economy
Guidehouse
The focus of this report is on what governments, especially
state and local, in the United States can do to support the development of the EV market. “Electrification of transportation should be viewed as an economic development strategy tool. With different stakeholders spending billions on new vehicles and charging infrastructure, state and local governments should consider how to capture value along the electrification process where possible. From raw materials and OEM, to downstream stakeholders who build the charging infrastructure or manage fleets, the value chain holds many opportunities to
extract value.”
Building the electric vehicle charging infrastructure America needs”
McKinsey
“
It’s too soon to say goodbye to internal combustion”
“
Oliver Wyman
These Oliver Wyman authors offer a counterintuitive view of the future of the automobile market in this article published in Automotive World. They argue that internal combustion engines (ICEs) will be with us for years to come so automakers should continue to invest to improve engine performance.
“A review of state-of-the-art research shows various technologies could be leveraged to achieve efficiency improvements,” the authors write. “These could lead to potential reductions of CO2 emissions from ICEs of between
10 percent and 15 percent, depending on the vehicle class, our calculations show.”
What will it take to supply a greatly expanded fleet of EVs in the United States with the power they need? These McKinsey authors model the infrastructure requirements and then discuss associated issues, such as promoting equity in the public EV-charging system.
“As the number of EVs on the road increases, annual demand for electricity to charge them would surge from 11 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) now to 230 billion kWh in 2030, according to our scenario-based modeling. The demand estimate for 2030 represents approximately 5 percent of current total electricity demand in the United States.
“Our modeling indicates that nearly 30 million chargers would be needed to deliver so much electricity in that year. While most of these chargers would be installed at residences, 1.2 million would be public chargers, installed at on-the-go locations and at destinations where vehicles are parked for long periods. We estimate that the cost of hardware, planning, and installation for this amount of public charging infrastructure would come to more than $35 billion over the period to 2030.”