Industry Pulse– Consumer EV Standards and Voltage Trends

The electric vehicle (EV) market continues to grow, with an estimated 14 million vehicles to be sold by end of 2023 [1] . As EVs continue to appear on the road, the charging infrastructure needed to support them will also continue to scale, especially with the help of government subsidies offered to both manufacturers and consumers (check out the September 2022 column for a deep dive on this [2] ). EV hardware, both in the vehicle (drive train/inverter) and in the charging station, will drive rail voltages—and with multiple voltage options comes competing semiconductor requirements. This article explores how implementation of different plug types and charging standards are impacting infrastructure scaling and accessibility, and how these may impact wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor needs going forward.