When the effect of car purchase subsidies is gradually low, it is a better choice to focus on the construction of charging pile foundation for the European and American electric vehicle markets with relatively slow progress.

　　With the increasing penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the global market, some regional markets are starting to shift the driving force for industrial development from radical subsidy policies to charging facility infrastructure. Especially for the US and European markets, as the construction speed of charging stations in the region is far lower than the growth rate of electric vehicle sales, how to alleviate the constraints of insufficient supporting facilities on industrial development has become a difficult problem that needs to be studied and solved in their respective markets.

　　There is a huge gap in vehicle to pile ratio

　　For the development of the electric vehicle market in the United States, the severely lagging construction of charging infrastructure is becoming an important factor limiting the acceleration of this market. Data shows that in 2022, although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the US market has rapidly increased to around 6%, their vehicle to pile ratio has sharply increased to 17-1. Faced with such an uneven development gap in supporting facilities, some third-party institutions believe that the previously estimated 500000 public charging pile construction plans in the market are clearly not changing, and the compound growth rate of the US public charging pile market is expected to reach 80% in the next three years, increasing to a scale of 19.1 billion US dollars.

　　Therefore, following the focus on localized production of electric vehicles and battery components under the framework of the Inflation Tightness Act, the United States has once again turned its attention to the field of charging stations. On February 15th, the US government officially released new regulations for the network of electric vehicle charging facilities in the United States, requiring all charging piles that enjoy federal funding to be produced and assembled locally in the United States, in order to establish a charging pile industry chain with a local proportion of no less than 55% by July 2024.

　　Coincidentally, the trend of "disconnection" between vehicles and piles in the European electric vehicle market is also evident. According to a tracking report by the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) on the construction of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the region, between 2016 and 2022, the share of pure electric vehicles in the EU market expanded to 12.1%. Although the number of public charging stations in the region increased sixfold, it lagged far behind the 18-fold increase in pure electric vehicle sales. The insufficient consumer experience caused by charging issues also poses more challenges to the promotion of pure electric vehicles in the region. ACEA also stated in this report that if we want to persuade more consumers in the region to switch to electric vehicles in the next decade, we need to make "charging convenience as easy as refueling".

　　Although the agreement to halt the sale of new fuel vehicles in Europe in 2035 has not yet fully completed the legislative process, optimistic predictions from various EU parties regarding the number of new energy vehicle ownership within the scope have been repeatedly reported. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the number of new energy vehicles in the EU is expected to reach 21.9 million by 2025, with a compound growth rate of 41% from 2021 to 2025. Other institutions predict that the demand for charging stations in Europe will increase from 5 billion euros in 2021 to 15 billion euros in the next decade.

　　The development of charging stations is extremely uneven

　　Of course, avoiding the premise of rapid growth in electric vehicles, the development of charging infrastructure in the respective regional markets of the United States and Europe is not actually "slow". According to the United States Department of Energy Alternative Fuel Data Center (AFDC), by the end of 2022, the number of EVSE ports in the country has increased to 143000, an increase of 11.7% over the previous year. The total number of charging stations increased to 53000, a year-on-year increase of about 6%. The operation of charging infrastructure mentioned in the EU bill "Alternative Fuel Supply Infrastructure Deployment Directive (AFIR)" shows that by the fourth quarter of 2022, there were a total of 479000 charging stations in the 27 EU countries, of which 422000 were AC and 57000 were DC.

　　At present, according to differences in charging capacity, charging stations in the US and European markets can be divided into two categories: AC slow charging and DC fast charging. Among them, the proportion of AC slow charging piles in the US market is about 80%, and the development is extremely uneven. Taking the case of ChargePoint, the largest charging network operator in the market, as an example, it is understood that although the operator has a share of approximately 51.5% of charging stations in the US market, the vast majority of the over 68000 charging stations it operates are still Level 1 and Level 2 AC slow charging stations for use in business settings on weekdays. Currently, only about 1500 Level 3 DC charging stations can meet the needs of electric vehicle users for long-distance travel across states, The charging network still has defects. In terms of DC fast charging, Tesla occupies a dominant position in this segmented field. Its current 17000 fast charging stations have a total market share of approximately 58%.

　　The proportion balance of fast and slow charging stations in Europe is more extreme compared to the United States. Nowadays, the proportion of AC charging stations with a power level of 22kW and below in the regional market is about 88%, while the proportion of first and second level ultra fast DC charging stations with a power level higher than 150kW is only about 4.7%. However, charging pile manufacturers and operators such as ABB, Siemens, EVBox, Allego, etc., which provide public services for this market, are working to improve this extreme difference. The German P3 consulting company conducted a study on the construction of charging networks in some European countries in 2022, and the results showed that compared to the statistical data in 2021, the top charging service providers provided a 35% increase in charging network coverage in the European region. The growth rate of some third-party service providers is more significant, with EnBW Mobility+'s charging services growing at a rate of up to 60% in a year.

　　However, in addition to the development shortcomings of the charging pile network mentioned above, the uneven distribution of pile construction is also a common problem faced by the two markets. In the United States, the total number of charging stations in economically developed coastal areas such as California, Texas, and Florida far exceeds that of other states, while the construction of charging stations along the inland highway network is progressing slowly. At the same time, some state laws and regulations are accelerating the concentration of charging station construction in specific areas. For example, California requires residential areas with over 17 households to reserve at least 3% of the area for electric vehicle charging stations for construction.

　　In Europe, the Netherlands has become the most well-established market for charging infrastructure within the EU with 112000 charging stations, while Germany has followed closely with 87000 stations, with a total of 42% of charging station facilities concentrated in the EU. Compared to the density of one charging station per 1.5 kilometers of road in the Netherlands, countries such as Poland and Romania only have a distribution density of one charging station per 150 kilometers of road. In this regard, ACEA has to state that based on the current average range of 326 kilometers of pure electric vehicles, the existing charging pile ratio may be sufficient to meet daily commuting or short distance travel, but it is still far from enough to achieve cross-border travel in Europe. To this end, the European Electricity Industry Alliance (Eurostrictic) believes that the European region needs to update its charging facility construction plan in terms of policies, and in addition to the "fit for 55" environmental reduction package plan that is currently being promoted in the region, which requires member states to ensure the establishment of one electric vehicle charging facility every 60 kilometers on major roads, new solutions are being established to cope with the potential surge in the number of electric vehicles and consumer charging needs.

　　Explore interconnectivity paths separately

　　Although in their respective markets, there are still various problems in the development of the charging pile market in the United States and Europe, and even because of the slow communication and coordination between government departments, power supply agencies, vehicle enterprises and charging service providers, it is difficult to quickly realize the large-scale charging infrastructure layout, resulting in many pressures in the development of electric vehicles such as today's ever-changing development. But fortunately, all parties are also exploring the trend of interconnectivity in various charging pile systems.

　　Firstly, there is the interconnection of charging station interfaces. Tesla has initiated a process of interface standardization led by enterprise operators in the US market. It is reported that Tesla expects to open all 3500 super charging stations along highways and 4000 commercial low-speed charging stations in the North American market to the public by the end of 2024, for use by other electric vehicle models. The head of the company's energy department has stated that "opening up charging stations to the outside world can improve the utilization rate of the charging network, save operational costs, and make the charging network more profitable." However, due to the significant differences between the company's DC fast charging network and other charging networks in the United States, and the lack of compatibility with the compatible charging system CSS under the federal standard system, its planned goals are still uncertain. Some argue that Tesla's move is a strategic adjustment in response to the US government's "National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program" to avoid other charging network operators taking advantage of this opportunity to seize the market, such as EVgo and ChargePoint.

　　The charging pile market in the European region is showing a trend of integrating and unifying pricing and payment models. In the aforementioned research on European charging networks, German P3 Consulting found that multiple European countries have unclear business models for charging stations: some service providers use evaluation standards for charging station power, charging volume, or charging time, while others use tiered pricing for combinations of registration fees, monthly rent, charging fees, and service fees. This means that even if users use the same charging station to charge, they will face significant differences in charging costs due to fluctuations in electricity prices, different service providers, and payment standards. In addition, the European Court of Auditors' review report on the charging infrastructure of EU member states also shows that the varying availability and inconsistent payment systems of public charging stations among member states pose many unnecessary challenges to the consumer end of electric vehicles, such as the lack of real-time information on charging infrastructure networking data and the inability to track information about charging station failures or waiting in queues in a timely manner.

　　The Chinese charging pile industry chain, which relies on the world's largest electric vehicle market, has shown a focus on exploring the coordinated development of charging facility service platforms and power grids in terms of connectivity. During the 2023 National People's Political Consultative Conference, Shao Danwei, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, founder of Star Charging, and chairman of Wanbang Digital Energy, proposed to build a unified charging monitoring platform nationwide and integrate data from various charging facilities and new energy enterprise operation platforms to provide support for the large-scale optimization and allocation of charging resources. At the same time, she also suggested using real-time Price signal to guide new energy vehicles to participate in vehicle network interaction, so as to improve the operation mechanism of the electricity market.