Electric Vehicles & Fuel Retailers : Challenges with the Provision of Fast Charging in Swedish Fuel Stations

Sammanfattning: Battery-Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are gaining increasing momentum and their adoption is projected to continue at a rapid pace. In contrast to the predominate vehicle type, Internal-Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs), the BEVs rely on electricity rather than conventional fuels for propulsion. For the fuel retailers, the actors managing fuel stations and supply fuel to vehicle users, the shift towards BEVs may impose a demand decline for their core product. One way of mitigating the effects of this transition for fuel retailers, has been attributed to the provision of charging for electric vehicles in fuel stations, something that is offered to a limited extent by a few fuel retailers in Sweden today. The purpose of this study has been to explore the main challenges associated with the provision of fast charging in Swedish fuel stations.  Anchored in a study of the four largest fuel retailers in Sweden, the findings suggest that the provision of fast charging is subject to financial challenges in terms of long investments horizons, with the associated investment risk being negatively influenced by uncertainties of technology development, future price levels for fast charging and future utilization rates of the chargers. Furthermore, with the lack of direct financial incentives of charging sales in the short-term, other motives have been observed for the provision of fast charging, namely goodwill and traffic building. The prevalence of different types of fuel retail formats have been shown to influence the extent of which benefits can be claimed from fast charging provision, and that this is manifested in a bias towards certain formats and locations for the choice of fuel stations to provide fast charging in. Challenges have also been identified in the sense of fulfillment of necessary preconditions to facilitate a business model suitable for fast charging provision. The study concludes that the main challenges revolve around the attainment of a financially sustainable business case for fast chargers.