Electric Vehicles

Commercial EV Charging Report: Microgrids Provide Clear Path to Fleet Electrification

June 17, 2024

The consensus is clear: Some 75% of survey respondents say that electric grid limitations are a significant roadblock to the rollout of EV charging infrastructure.

Rod Walton, Managing Editor

The e-mobility transition faces a conundrum, and microgrids may be the only way to clear that jam.

A new report by Xendee and Endeavor Business Media (EBM) reiterates that a shift to electric vehicle adoption is happening, despite some temporary detours market-wise, but that limitations of the utility-scale grid in handling that advanced transportational load is a key hindrance to EV adoption.

This is the second annual collaboration between Xendee and EBM, which is the parent company of Microgrid Knowledge. EV sales are clearly accelerating in the U.S., and may surge to 50 percent year over year to take close to a tenth of share of domestic vehicles sold over the year, according to reports.

Demand is willing, if skeptical, but the supply is weak when it comes to electricity distribution to charge those EVs. It’s not lack of EVs, but a feared shortfall of electrons, keeping many away from fleet electrification.

“EV adoption is looking to move into its next phase, requiring much more mass-market interest—and this larger cohort has to be sold on EVs since they aren’t as enthusiastic and willing as early adopters,” Jessica Caldwell, director of insights at automobile research firm Edmunds said as quoted in the Xendee report.

The consensus is clear: Some 75% of survey respondents say that electric grid limitations are a significant roadblock to the rollout of EV charging infrastructure for commercial electric vehicles. Project costs, permitting, construction and supply chain challenges follow in order of concern among the respondents.

Nearly 80% of respondents listed microgrids fueled by distributed energy resources as the top game-changing technology to stimulate the transition from internal combustion engines to EVs and electric fleets. Solar and battery storage combinations were ranked second among the most promising technologies to feed EV charging infrastructure, according to the Xendee report.

Click here to read more on “2024 Market Survey: Commercial EV Charging” delivered by Xendee and EBM.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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