EVs and Charging Stations: A Platform Business

The electric vehicle business is, at this time, fundamentally a platform business. Buyers of EVs need a robust network of rapid charging stations (superchargers); and station operators need plenty of EV owners in order to build and operate stations. Beyond this quantitative aspect, there is a vital need for a coordinating entity so that actions on both sides are consistent and reflect these network effects. Oddly, managers and leaders of the big automakers (except for Tesla) have failed to realize these properties, resulting in incorrect decisions and poor outcomes. We have written extensively about these issues and the consequences they raise.