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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Network connectivity is essential to ensure public EV charging stations are reliable and up to date with over-the-air upgrades.

Information relayed to charging network operators and auto OEMs enables operators to quickly fix outages, boost EV charger uptime, and increase customer satisfaction.

With 500,000 public charging stations promised by 2030, internet access at those stations will offer new opportunities for auto OEMs, network operators, and nearby retailers to reach customers.

Fixed wireless can bring connectivity to places where installing landlines is too costly or existing wireless is unreliable. Fixed wireless hardware can be installed in hours—or even minutes.

Plagued by outages and inconsistent service, public charging networks for electric vehicles (EVs) have been a major stumbling block for EV adoption, as well as a challenge for network operators, car makers, and even nearby retailers. But smoother roads lie ahead.

Without constant connectivity, existing charging stations lack reliability. That means plans to expand the charging network to far-flung locations using traditional connectivity face an uphill battle. What charging networks really need is a 24/7 fixed wireless solution.

Our Business Internet solution was designed to deliver exactly that level of reliability using our nationwide high capacity 5G network. That makes Business Internet the ideal way to fix existing problems and support the rapid expansion of public charging networks. In fact, it’s already doing just that.

The connectivity problem.

For years, EV owners suffered from range anxiety, the fear that they might run out of battery power before reaching their destination. Today, it’s more likely charger anxiety—concern that the next public charging station will be out of service, occupied, or in a remote, undesirable location.

It’s an industry-wide problem facing charging network operators and automakers: patchy and unreliable charging networks with poor support and unacceptable downtime. These issues cost customers and discourage EV adoption and usage. And the numbers underscore the problem.

Based on data compiled over the past year in the U.S., problems with station internet connectivity were the most common reason for failed EV charging sessions, accounting for over half of them, 55%.¹ Next were internal station faults or errors, cited by 38% of drivers in the same survey.

Guess what? Many of the second group of failures can also be attributed to poor connectivity—and could have been identified and resolved remotely with an over-the-air software update or reboot.

Clearly, building out just a physical framework for the nation’s charging networks won’t be enough to overcome the stumbling blocks preventing wider adoption of EVs. Those networks will also have to be dependable, and that means having a robust, highly reliable connection to the internet.

Over 55%

of failed EV charging sessions were caused by station internet connectivity issues.

The opportunity.

While there is seasonal variation in sales, EVs have been on a hot streak. In the U.S., over 2.2 million EVs are expected to be sold in 2024, according to Canalys.2 Moreover, sales of battery-powered vehicles are expected to reach a 26% compound annual growth rate by 2030 (Gartner).3

The federal government’s updated emissions standards for automakers mean that, in keeping with Environmental Protection Agency standards, at least 56% of new vehicles sold will have to be EVs by 2032. That’s a huge jump compared to the 7.6% of such sales in 2023. And it helps explain why the government’s infrastructure bill has allocated $7.5 billion for public EV chargers, with an eye toward deploying 500,000 chargers in the U.S. by 2030.⁴

These millions of vehicles and hundreds of thousands of charging stations also mean a new source of demand for wireless services. Why? Because, without exception, EVs are connected vehicles, requiring wireless connections and bandwidth for remote battery management, monitoring telemetry data, conducting over-the-air updates, providing navigation, and doing route planning to help drivers find their next charging station. As adoption grows, these vehicles are less likely to be parked in a suburban garage with access to a home Wi-Fi connection.

56%

of new vehicle sales will be EVs within 8 years.

Consequently, public charging stations present a broad opportunity to reach audiences of EV drivers and passengers. Automakers can push targeted materials and software updates, while gathering analytics that can affect further EV development. Charging network operators can maximize station use and customer satisfaction by alerting drivers when a station is about to become available and notifying them of expected wait times. Local retailers can boost revenue by transmitting specials and marketing offers to customers at nearby charging stations.

But to take full advantage of these opportunities, it’s going to require a rapid deployment of 24/7 fixed wireless access (FWA): Our Business Internet covers the largest geographical footprint in the U.S. with 5G speeds.

What fixed wireless access offers businesses.

Fixed wireless fulfills all the connectivity requirements of current and future charging stations. First and foremost, for a successful charging session, stations need to handle transactions instantly. That means FWA’s constant connectivity to support payment apps and tap-and-go card stations.

There’s more. Fixed wireless is an EV charging solution that provides 24/7 connectivity so that the status of a charging station is always available to network operators, partners, and customers/drivers. It enables real-time notification of charging station outages or problems connecting vehicles—information that can be immediately relayed to network operators and OEMs to quickly fix outages, boost uptime, and increase customer satisfaction.

An electric vehicle with telemetry connected to a charging station that enables reliable transactions.

It’s also a way to deliver firmware and software updates over-the-air, keeping charging stations current and able to accommodate new EV models, partnerships, and apps as they’re introduced. Moreover, updates can also be delivered by OEMs to vehicles while charging. Better still, there’s no need to dig trenches as might be required with cable. What if you already have landlines in place? Fixed wireless is a great way to supplement them, providing failover if and when those other connections drop out.

Fixed wireless from mobile365 for Business is uniquely positioned to offer all these advantages and more, thanks to our multi-spectrum 5G network. Not only does Business Internet leverage our Ultra Capacity 5G in the mid-band, it layers on low-band spectrum for extended range 5G, which can cover hundreds of square miles with a single tower, offering more reliable connectivity in rural areas, remote locations, and problem spots, like underground parking lots—giving mobile365 the largest overall 5G footprint in the U.S. as well as the largest Ultra Capacity 5G layer in the U.S.

The incredible expanding public charging network for electric vehicles.

$7.5B

of U.S. infrastructure bill allocated for
public EV chargers.⁵
800%+

expected growth of public charging network over the next six years.⁶
500K

charging stations expected in the U.S. by 2030.⁷

What’s wrong now.

Today, relying on landlines to provide internet connection delays the deployment of charging stations, usually adding weeks or months to installation times. More importantly, wired connections are more costly to install, potentially adding thousands of dollars to build a station, depending on the location.

To avoid these costs and potential delays, many companies try to piggyback on nearby wireless services, including Wi-Fi connections that may be too slow because they are overwhelmed by users taking advantage of the free connection. In a survey of 1,000 consumers, nearly 70% reported using public Wi-Fi.⁸ But a charging station’s internet connection must support critical charging connections—it can’t rely on a nearby coffee shop’s crowded access point, or be forced to wait if the Wi-Fi owner’s access point goes down.

Additionally, public Wi-Fi connections are more vulnerable to hackers, which poses a security risk to this fast-emerging part of the nation’s transportation infrastructure. In fact, in the same survey, roughly a quarter of people who have used public Wi-Fi encountered security problems.

1 of 4

public Wi-Fi users reports a security issue.

Getting connected with fixed
wireless internet.

By contrast, our wireless hardware can be installed in hours—or even minutes—and it doesn’t require separate contracts or latching onto a nearby third-party to make the connection. Independent operators and OEMs already working with an EV charging network can easily deploy our Business Internet solution. It’s hardware agnostic and will work with any charging station.

A vital component of building out the national public charging network is to close the charging gaps for people on long trips. This usually means rural stations, which may lack landline access or Wi-Fi. This is no problem for our multi-spectrum 5G network, which reaches spots that are off the beaten path.

Keeping a charging network up and running means being able to support everything from low-bandwidth payment transactions to handling critical charging station software updates. Our FWA offers the capacity and speeds to not only keep banks of chargers fully connected but also enable value-added services for operators and customers.

Finally, there’s the security component to consider when managing connections to cars and customer accounts. Fixed wireless customers can also implement mobile365 SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), with industry-first, SIM-based authentication, to help protect against cyber attacks.

Curious? We’ve tested it.

Curiosity Lab, located in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, is where new technologies get a workout on the streets of a 500-acre smart city. It’s where self-driving cars and pedestrian warning systems are put through their paces, and it’s where we’ve proven how wireless access works for public charging stations. With partners including Siemens, Noodoe, and iCharging and using embedded SIMs, mobile365 has demonstrated that electric vehicle charging stations can be transformed into more than just places for EV drivers to plug in.

Cameras on a light post recognize pedestrians and cyclists in Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners.

Wireless access means network operators don’t have to dig new trenches to make the connection. It also eliminates internet access competition on public Wi-Fi, which strains bandwidth, so automakers can reach customers at maximum speed, access real-time analytics, optimize battery performance, and provide location-based services and offers. In fact, with fixed wireless, public charging stations can be turned into ad-supported digital kiosks that pay for themselves and don’t require retail or municipal investment.

In partnership with mobile365 and Siemens, which makes the charging stations, Peachtree Corners has been running a cellular-based charging network for over 12 months, providing mobile365 with insights and experience coordinating charging networks with hardware providers and local government network operators.

“We’ve learned that cellular is more reliable and creates fewer headaches,” said Brandon Branham, Chief Technology Officer and Assistant City Manager of Peachtree Corners. The municipality has installed stations in locations ranging from city hall to basement parking spaces in multi-level garages.

“We’ve learned that cellular is more reliable and creates fewer headaches.”

Brandon Branham
CTO and Assistant City Manager of Peachtree Corners, GA

Not only was connectivity critical in order to study and manage usage, trenching for extra lines wasn’t financially practical. “There’s no reason you should be pulling a hard line into a charging station,” said Branham.

Our embedded SIM technology offered the ideal solution. All the data the municipality requires, such as power consumption, geolocation, and wait times, is transmitted in real time using an open protocol and platform. This allows the town to see kilowatt per hour consumption in order to manage load sharing at the stations and help plan for the megawatt demands of the future.

Simple, turn-key installation is a priority. “Siemens allows stations to be cellular ready and can deliver chargers streamlined with pre-configured mobile365 SIM cards to help operators get connected,” said Wes Sheldon, Senior Business Developer for Siemens eMobility. Stations can ship with 500 MB of mobile365 data included to help operators get up and running right away.

Future proofing the network.

Can fixed wireless tip the scales in favor of EVs?

The rate of EV adoption will depend on many factors, including the availability of models at different price points. But fixed wireless connectivity on charging networks can go a long way toward addressing customer concerns about availability, alleviating range anxiety, improving reliability, supporting rapid deployment, and offering network operators and car makers a solution for adding differentiation to their products.

Fixed wireless service at public charging points can:

Increase EV charger uptime and reliability
Improve customer satisfaction at the public charging points
Enhance automotive OEM access to vehicle data

How will Americans use their EVs and public charging networks in the future, when there are hundreds of thousands of stations available? The possibilities are endless. Some stations will become high-tech retail destination spots, and we already know there’s demand for streaming entertainment. Tesla owners have been able to watch movies in their cars at the Tesla charging network since 2019, and automakers like Porsche want to follow suit.

Fixed wireless internet access can provide the foundation for these future EV charging station use cases—and more. OEMs can deliver over-the-air warranty and repair updates and feature enhancements to owners, improving the customer experience. Similarly, network operators can obtain valuable usage data in order to improve their services and fortify charging infrastructure. And whether travelers prefer to shop nearby while they charge or just sit back and stream a movie, fixed wireless from mobile365 for Business can make it happen.

Future proofing the network.

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For EV charging networks, connectivity is critical.

Future proofing the network.

Discover more resources.

Recommended reading.

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