DC Charging for Automotive 2023

The DC charging system market will be worth $17.9 billion by 2028.

The rapidly growing electric vehicle (EV) market and growing needs for faster vehicle charging increase interest in EV DC* charging solutions. The EV DC charger system market was worth about $5.3B in 2021 and is poised to reach $17.9 billion by 2028, with a 2021-2028 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 19.1%. The value of power electronic components in a charger system increases with the charger’s nominal power. As analyzed in the report, the silicon and SiC power device market value for EV DC chargers will be worth $610.8M by 2028.

EV DC charging supply chain is far from consolidated

Finding an optimal business case for the charging infrastructure business is a very complex task. Positioning along the supply chain, matching with regional regulations and the market environment, the electricity grid code and power line capacity, customer needs, EV deployment, EV architectures and battery power and energy capacities are crucial here. The position of different companies evolves rapidly depending on how successful they in are providing technology innovations and system reliability, reducing costs, and expanding into new markets.

The leading charger manufacturers include ABB, Tritium, Tesla, BTC Power, Alpitronic, Kempower, Wangbang Digital Energy/StarCharge and Delta.

Most high-power chargers are built of several sub-unit charger modules. The main charger module suppliers are Chinese companies, UUGreenPower, Sinexcel, Tonhe Technology, SETEC POWER and SCU.

Many discrete device and/or power module makers including Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Rohm, Wolfspeed and Semikron Danfoss have identified the growing opportunity within the EV DC charging infrastructure market and supply silicon and/or SiC devices to this market.

Towards higher and lower power chargers, higher voltages, and more functionality

As analyzed in the report, the main trends in EV DC chargers are the increasing maximum charger voltage from 500V to 1,000V to ease the charging of 800V battery vehicles and increasing power above 200 kW to enable faster charging. To minimize the impact of high-power charging on the grid, battery energy storage solutions are increasingly used with DC chargers. Bi-directional DC chargers enable revenue stacking for car users and charging point operators by providing grid services.

Low-power DC chargers up to about 24kW are also rapidly gaining interest, especially as an alternative to AC home wall box chargers. The growing adoption of low-power DC chargers reduces interest in high-power on-board chargers and in the long term may remove on-board chargers from some vehicle models.

Silicon transistors including discrete IGBTs and MOSFETs are the most popular devices in EV DC chargers. The needs for smaller charger footprints, lower losses and reduced cooling drive demand for SiC MOSFET devices. GaN devices might find applications in the low-power charger segment.

Why this report?

Glossary

Definitions

Report objectives

Scope of the report

Methodology

About the author

Companies cited

What we got right, what we got wrong

Who should be interested in this report?

Three-page summary

Executive summary

Context

• EV charging infrastructure as a key to achieving CO2 reduction targets
• Global carbon neutrality targets
• How issues with charging infrastructure are hindering BEV deployment
• EV charging infrastructure incentives and targets
• Towards more semiconductor content per charging point

EV charging solutions

• Where does the demand for charging solutions come from?
• How to recharge batteries in an electric vehicle
• AC and DC charging solutions

Market forecast

• 2021-2028 xEV forecast
• 2021-2028 plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV and BEV) forecast
• EV DC charger market: regional specificities
• Rationale behind EV DC charger market evolution
• 2021-2028 EV DC charger system market volume; split by nominal power
• 2021-2028 EV DC charger system market value
• 2021-2028 power module market volume for EV DC chargers
• 2021-2028 power device market value for EV DC chargers
  • Split by discrete devices/power modules
  • Split by semiconductor device type
• 2021-2028 wafer market volume for EV DC chargers
  • Silicon wafers
  • SiC wafers

Insights on EV DC charger prices

Market trends

• ‘Batterification’ trends boost demand for charging solutions
• Charging infrastructure as a key element of the ‘Internet of energy’
• Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) solutions
• Towards double-green electric mobility
• High efficiency sought for EV charging

Supply chain

• BEV, electric bus, and electric truck manufacturers
• What are the origins of charging infrastructure companies?
• EV DC charging infrastructure supply chain structure
• What are the differentiating factors in EV DC infrastructure?
• Why are so many players interested in contributing to charging infrastructure solutions?
• Charging infrastructure companies – geographical location
• EV charger module manufacturers – geographical location
• Leading EV DC charger suppliers – geographical location
• EV charging connector manufacturers – geographical location
• EV DC charging cable manufacturers – geographic location
• Recent mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs
• Partnerships
• Wireless charging of PHEVs and BEVs offers development opportunities
• BEV battery swapping – a challenging path to success
• Companies involved in the BEV battery swap business

Technology trends

• Overview of technology trends in charging infrastructure
• Main charging infrastructure trends
• EV charging modes
• AC charging vs. DC charging

Focus on EV fast charging

• Time needed to recharge by different means
• Charging time vs. charging power – slow and fast charging
• Key parameter: number of kilometers per minute of charging
• Fast-charging enablers
• Battery as a charging speed bottleneck
• Adoption of an 800V approach
• How to charge 800V batteries using chargers for 400V batteries
• Multiple charge ports for multiple battery packs?
• Charger nominal power vs. real charging power
• 480kW from XPENG – 200km worth of charge in just five minutes!
• Towards ‘megawatt’ chargers
• Not all cars need or can utilize high-power chargers

Technology trends at charging solution level

• Charging stations with a large number of charging points
• Towards ‘distributed’ EV DC charger posts
• Power conversion units separated from the charging posts
• Single EV DC charging output à Multiple EV DC charger outputs
• Battery storage to reduce power grid requirements
• Renewable electricity for double-green mobility
• Smart charging solutions needed!

Technology trends at system and device levels

• Trends in charger topologies – AC/DC stage and DC/DC stage
• Trends in EV DC charger power and their impact
• EV DC charging power: Two opposing trends observed
• Drivers for low-power DC chargers
• Towards the end of onboard chargers?
• Portable chargers – an opportunity for GaN technology?
• Bidirectional and portable chargers: a good combination
• Bidirectional chargers
• Power electronics challenges in bidirectional chargers
• Monolithic vs. modular EV chargers
• Benefits of modular chargers
• Discrete devices vs. power modules in chargers
• Growing potential for power modules in charger modules
• Trends in charger module power
• 50kW EV charger modules
• Charger module maximum DC voltage vs. power
• Towards higher power density
• Charger module power density vs. module power
• Power electronics for xEV DC charging
• SiC MOSFET power modules for DC chargers
• Discrete devices for DC chargers
• SiC adoption in EV DC chargers
• Air cooling vs. liquid cooling for EV DC chargers
• Different charger voltage ratings
• Impact of technology trends on passive components
• Electric vehicle charger connectors

APPENDIX

• Alternatives to wired charging
• Wireless charging
• Battery swapping
• Focus on hydrogen and fuel-cell vehicles

About Yole  Group

Key Features

• 2021-2028 forecast for electric vehicle direct current (EV DC) chargers and power electronic devices for EV DC chargers in MUnits and $M
• 2021-2028 forecast for silicon and SiC wafers for EV DC chargers
• Market trends in e-mobility and EV DC charging infrastructure
• Overview of the EV DC charging infrastructure supply chain, including power device manufacturers, EV DC charger module manufacturers, charger system manufacturers and charging point operators
• Deep insight into DC charger module manufacturers, products, and technology trends
• Comparison of EV DC charging and its alternatives such as AC charging, wireless charging and battery swapping
• Analysis of the technology trends on different levels including charging solutions, charging systems, charging modules, and power electronic devices, with a focus on low-power DC chargers as an alternative to AC chargers, bidirectional chargers and chargers with integrated battery and SiC technology adoption.

What's new

• 2021-2028 silicon wafer and SiC wafer forecast for EV DC chargers
• Deep insight into DC charger module manufacturers, products, and technology trends

Product objectives

• Provide market metrics and forecasts for DC EV chargers.
• Analyze the drivers and challenges for electric vehicles and EV charging infrastructure.
• Present main technological trends and ongoing developments for DC EV charger power electronics at each level including charging stations, charger topology, charger system design, power device and semiconductor technology.
• Provide market metrics and forecasts for DC EV charger-related power electronic devices, from system down to wafer.
• Present the evolution of electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and show how this impacts the DC EV charging market.
• Oversee the main players across the EV DC charging supply chain.
• Analyze how the business models and supply-chains are evolving.

Available on our Yole Group All-Inclusive Automotive Package

ABB, Alpitronic, Aulton New Energy Automotive Technology, Autel, blink, BorgWarner, BTC Power, chargepoint, Delta Electronics, efacec, Engie, efacec, evconnect, Fuji Electric, Greenway, Hitachi, Hyundai, Infineon, Ionity, JFE Technos, Kempower, Kreisel, Linyi New Energy Technology, Littelfuse, Nidec, NIO, OKAYA, Phoenix Contact, Rectifier Technologies, Semikron Danfoss, Setec Power, Shijiazhuang Tonhe Electronics Technologies, Sicon Chat Union Electric, Siemens, Sinexel, SK Signet, STMicroelectronics, Tesla, Tonhe Technology, Total Energies, Tritium, UUGreenPower, Vestel, Volkswagen, Wanbang Digital Energy (StarCharge), Watt&Well, Wolfspeed, XPENG, Zhejiang Benyi Electrical, Zhejiang Benyi Electrical (Beny Electric), and more