The Future of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

October 30, 2023

It’s no secret that electric vehicles (EVs) have become increasingly popular over the past few years. To meet the growing demand, professionals have been updating processes and developing the proper infrastructure to accommodate these technologies. However, as we explore these unprecedented innovations, there are bound to be hurdles ahead.

We asked our professional engineers what upcoming challenges they saw for electric vehicle infrastructure. Below are their responses and predictions for the future of electric vehicles, and beyond.

Utilities

Vice President

“For electric vehicle infrastructure to continue growing, we’ll have to work on expanding the grid. In order to accept the total EV supply, the electric grid will need a 40% increase in capacity, meaning more transmission and substations at a huge cost.”

Guy Niedorkorn, Vice President, Utilities

Consulting

Project Manager

“I believe the biggest challenge to EV Infrastructure will be the balance needed among consumer education, EV charging proliferation (rural and urban), grid modernization, funding, battery resource availability, battery storage capacity, and standardization. All these aspects take a great deal of communication and understanding among different industries, individuals, and government agencies if the balance is to be maintained.”

Julie Poynter, PMP, Project Manager

Utilities

Project Delivery Manager

“I think the biggest challenge for EV infrastructure is having the proper infrastructure and capacity available to power up every EV charging station. In upcoming years there may still be a need for further development of charging stations, especially in rural areas.”

Elizabeth Odegaard, PMP, Project Delivery Group Manager

Utilities

Civil Engineer

“Although battery technology has been improving, there’s a necessity for more efficient and longer-lasting batteries; a key challenge is to increase energy density and reduce costs. One promising example is the emergence of solid-state batteries, which could store and deliver more energy, while reducing energy losses. Finding ways to reduce the load on our EV infrastructure will pave the way for its emergence.

Joey DiVito, PE, Civil Team Lead, Civil Engineer

Utilities

Sr. Engineering Director

“While encouraging mass adoption through government policies and consumer attitudes will be a challenge, a larger issue moving forward is the lack of design and engineering resources currently available within the Utility industry. These resources are critical in the design of necessary distribution grid improvements which will be required to integrate large scale EV charging stations through-out the various Utility grids. I foresee this issue as a limiting factor for the next 3-5 years at least.”

Dennis Odegaard, PE, Senior Engineering Director