• • • ELECTRIC VEHICLES • • • Charge up your EV business
Vestel, one of Europe’s largest electrical vehicles charger manufacturers, looks at the booming UK EV charger installation market, from residential homes to the largest corporate customers. Ben Hugh, Vestel’s UK business development and sales manager, is confident of the EVC market potential
V
estel is quite possibly the largest electronics manufacturer you have never heard of. This Turkey-based goliath has built its global business on TV and display technology and now boasts one of the largest manufacturing sites in Europe.
It produces a whopping 1.2 million TVs a year, mostly as OEM for other brands. With the same business model applied to its factories producing domestic appliances and larger electrical equipment, electric vehicle charging products were a logical step. With an increased global focus on green technologies, Vestel began developing and manufacturing AC and DC electric vehicle chargers in 2020. The business model has remained largely OEM, with Vestel now producing EV chargers for many household-name brands across Europe. Production and the number of partner brands have ramped up significantly, with the Izmir, Turkey, factory now boasting over 100 R&D staff and the capability of manufacturing 700,000 AC chargers per year, with the majority of components built in-house.
Already one of the largest EV charger manufacturers in Europe, the brand is now setting its sights on Vestel-branded domestic and commercial chargers, launching in April, and becoming Europe’s leading provider of green charging technologies. The company’s UK Head-Office in Langley, Berkshire houses the UK-based Vestel EV team and services its growing number of UK clients. I am confident of the EVC market potential, both
for Vestel and the electricians and electrical contractors required to install the devices. There were over 663,000 Electric Vehicles registered onto UK roads in 2022, compared to just under 100,000 in 2019.
This still only constitutes 16% of all new vehicles sold, so there is a lot more room to grow as legislation towards electric vehicles becomes mandatory.
The potential for the EV charger market is vast, from the homes of new car buyers to garage forecourts, sports venues, shopping and leisure facilities, government buildings and businesses looking to install EV charging facilities for their staff and customers.
The EVC market
While there are some factors slowing the EV market generally, specifically the higher cost of EVs in a challenging economy and the falling price of oil against rising electricity costs, that is perhaps good news in affording more time for the roll-out of EV chargers and larger-scale EV infrastructure. While the shift in energy cost per kWh of petrol or diesel against mains electricity has tipped significantly in the last year, it can still be cheaper to run an EV when charged at home. That is particularly true of home charging using lower-cost overnight electricity – which can be one-tenth of the price of daytime electricity, depending on the supplier. With brands like Tesla reducing EV prices and the manufacturing ban on all petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles coming into play in 2030, the charger market is set to grow exponentially over the next decade and beyond. That applies equally to models for homes and businesses. For any commercial entity with a staff car park, EV charging facilities are already a consideration for both the convenience of staff and in reducing company’s carbon footprint.
It is now unusual to find a major office building without an EV charger or two. However, to meet
the growing demands of its employees or owned fleet, these businesses will need to dramatically expand the number of chargers available and/or offer incentives for home charging, such as the Salary Sacrifice scheme.
Large fleet owners have already begun
electrifying their fleets, installing ever more charge points to service their growing charging requirements.
Costs, fees and EVC choice Cost is still a major factor for EV chargers, from small residential units to commercial forecourt chargers. Components are not getting cheaper, and new regulations are increasing manufacturing costs while ultimately producing a safer charger. While supply is no longer an issue. Distribution Network Operators have recently started charging significant fees for fuse upgrades to accommodate an EV charger in the home or for small businesses – a service that was, until recently, offered free. This has become a real barrier, or at least an unwelcome shock, to those wanting to get their home EV charger installed
Affordability is one of the key factors influencing the residential EV charger market, with technology and features (such as solar integration) and aesthetics of a device bolted to the side of the home all swaying customer choices. Integration with energy tariffs is also key for most buyers, particularly as the difference between normal and low-rate (usually night-time) tariffs has become much larger. Reliability is not something customers have been talking about in great depth as the market, and its failure rates, are yet to mature. However, as an EV installer, you want to make sure you are not wasting time revisiting the site to remedy faults or swap out faulty chargers.
36 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • FEBRUARY 2023
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
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