According to a survey from Guidehouse Insights, as more businesses begin to integrate charging stations for electric cars into their amenities, the power requirements associated with such enhancements are driving up demand in the BEMS (building energy management systems) industry.
According to the survey, while there is a lot of hype about electric vehicles for personal usage, many businesses want to employ them for their operations. These companies will most likely replace their present fleets with functionally identical EVs over time. The impact of fleet charging on the electrical networks at the fleet facility is an important topic that is sometimes disregarded. Although some sites may be capable of handling the load from Electric Vehicle charging with minimum disruption, the power needs associated with charging Electric Vehicles fleets will most certainly exceed present power capacity and management capabilities in many locations.
According to the analysis, the BEMS industry would expand to $12.7 billion by 2030, with a 4-percent annual growth rate starting in 2021. According to Guidehouse Insights, some sites are going to be able to handle the higher energy consumption due to the rising usage of electric vehicles by businesses for their operations, which includes the requirement to incorporate charging stations as part of their structures. However, many facilities will almost certainly surpass their power capacity.
According to Guidehouse, roughly 10% of business premises will need to install charging stations. The BEMS market is significant since the necessary improvements can be complex and entail electrical infrastructure as well as charging configuration study. The report also examines the cash generated by surplus power sales made possible by the electric fleet charging network.
Building energy usage is estimated to account for 40% of global energy consumption. Electric fleet predictions continue to rise, with BloombergNEF predicting that 677 million would be on the road by the year 2040.
This combination generates a considerable amount of energy demand, necessitating a new requirement for these capacities to collaborate. SWTCH Energy has established a program that looks at how charging points in buildings may gather energy and increase the building’s efficiency while lowering costs. That program is looking into how an electric car charger can be able to store energy via the parked Nissan Leaf during the off-peak hours in order to research vehicle-to-grid charging technology.
Managed charging also considers the impact of infrastructure on utilities and how initiatives can benefit both users and the grid. Furthermore, programs like Catalyze and Microgrid Labs’ can assist businesses and communities in planning, developing, and installing fleet electrification platforms, as well as providing renewable energy generation and storage infrastructure, that can aid in the transition.
“Many of these sites require to improve their BEMSs, and several more need to install one for the first time to enable load management related with charging EV fleets,” says William Hughes, who works as the principal research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.