Powering tomorrow Navigating the energy transition landscape 2024 - Flipbook - Page 17
• The UK and the EU are planning to end the
sale of new internal combustion engine
(ICE) vehicles by a 2035 deadline (with
some exceptions).
• In the UK, new proposed laws requiring
a 99 percent reliability rate and real-time
status updates for charging ports were
proposed earlier this summer, supplementing
the 2022 Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
Strategy. Similarly, the EU has imposed strict
requirements on the availability of charging
ports, mandating their availability every 60
kilometers along main routes by 2026.
Rapid infrastructure development:
The vast infrastructure necessary to support
widescale EV charging does not yet exist. The
U.S. Department of Energy estimated earlier this
summer, for example, that the nation will need
28 million charging ports (including 182,000
publicly accessible fast chargers) by 2030 to
support just a mid-adoption scenario. For
reference, the U.S. currently has approximately
160,000 total ports (excluding residential
chargers). In the UK, a £950m Rapid Charging
Fund has been provided for the development
of rapid charging infrastructure on motorways
and the ‘A’ road network. Development of this
charging infrastructure must keep pace with the
increase in EV market share.
transmission grid and deployment of utility-scale
energy storage to allow for increasing reliance
on intermittent renewable energy generation
sources such as wind and solar.
Cultural shifts: While production of EVs
has increased, consumer purchases of such
vehicles have stagnated. Widespread adoption
will require consumers to accept the value and
tradeo昀昀s of EVs, such as longer refueling times
and investments in home charging infrastructure.
Supply chain expansion: The International
Energy Agency estimates that the current
generation of EVs require six times the amount
of critical minerals used to build ICEs due to
their electric components. These raw materials
are currently in short supply, however, and
subject to social and political complications due
to the environmental and labor issues associated
with modern mining practices, as well as national
security concerns raised by the fact that most of
these minerals are currently processed in China.
New sources for these necessary materials, as
well as continuing innovation in EV technology to
reduce reliance on rare minerals will be needed
to meet global production targets for EVs over
the next decade.
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• In the U.S., the three agencies regulating light
duty vehicle emissions and fuel economy, the
Environmental Protection Agency, the National
Highway Tra昀케c Safety Administration, and the
California Air Resources Board, all have new
or proposed rules governing EVs. Importantly,
California’s new zero emission vehicle (ZEV)
mandate (e昀昀ective model year 2026) ramps up
to 100 percent ZEV required for new vehicle
sales by model year 2035, while the Biden
administration is seeking to 昀椀nalize historically
stringent emissions and fuel economy standards
beginning in model year 2027.
They work on the biggest, most
groundbreaking and complex deals
in the market and are a force to be
reckoned with.
Legal 500 U.S., 2023
EV charging also requires signi昀椀cant energy
at unpredictable times, posing load balancing
challenges for outdated electrical grids. The
roll-out of ‘Time-of-Use Tari昀昀s’ for domestic
U.S. energy users and vehicle-to-grid services
will be critical to solving this issue, combined
with additional investment in modernizing the
Hogan Lovells | Powering tomorrow: Navigating the energy transition landscape
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