EV charging sessions to cross 1.5 billion by 2026 globally: Report

As the governments world over, including India, dole out incentives for mass adoption of electric vehicles, a new report said on Monday that the global volume of EV charging sessions, where an EV's battery is charged using a charging point, will exceed 1.5 billion per annum in 2026 -- from just 200 million in 2021.

This remarkable growth rate of more than 665 per cent over the next five years will be driven by greater government incentives for electric vehicles, as well as more widespread charging service availability, according to the report by Juniper Research.

"While EV charging at home will largely remain dominant, public charging roll-outs will be a major focus going forward, and their installation will be critical to enabling users who do not have off-road parking to join the electric mobility revolution," said research author Nick Maynard.
The findings showed that home charging will decline slightly, accounting for over 70 per cent of all EV charging sessions in 2026, compared with just over 80 per cent in 2021.

However, the report found that this dominance does not directly translate into hardware revenue for charging point vendors, with public charging stations accounting for 56 per cent of charging point hardware revenue globally in 2026.
As EVs become longer range and more powerful, fast charging DC (direct current) stations will be the next key competitive battleground within the EV charging landscape.

To support greater electrification, the report recommended EV charging vendors work with governments and other stakeholders, including fuel retailers, to plan coordinated public charging network roll outs, or the mass electrification of mobility will stall.