The growing awareness on environmental protection and energy conservation has prompted governments worldwide to enforce energy efficiency policies. With the development of electric vehicles (EV) as one of their priorities, many countries are now planning on a timeline between 2020 and 2040 to ban new fossil-fuel cars' sales. Worldwide efforts to promote EV adoption have introduced immense opportunities, attracting many Taiwan high-tech players to launch into the market. Channel Well Technology (CWT), with years of experience in the power supply business, is also making active efforts in the R&D of EV charging pile equipment. Wei-Ting Ou, who's in charge of CWT's EV charging pile department, points out that most people tend to think Taiwan-based manufacturers focus more on developing technologies for EV body structures, however, achievements they've accumulate in charging pile industry is in fact another rising star.
CWT engages in collaborations with the startup eTreego by providing interior power supply systems to be integrated into its charging piles. Most charging stations currently on the market can only support a few cars once and may have difficulties satisfying demand in high traffic areas. eTreego's charging pile on the other hand offers a chance to reduce the contract capacity of the charging station through non-uniform charging technology. For eTreego's piles, aside from critical control modules, rely heavily on interior robust power supply technologies. With this need, achievements through long-term devotion in power supply have allowed CWT to be the perfect match.
Overall grow of the EV industry did not advance as expected for the past for reasons as follows. First of all, due to competitions among leading international automakers, the Taiwan market had not unified EV charging standards during EV industry's early-stage, which led to holdbacks of domestic manufacturers, resulting in longer R&D cycles. Furthermore, consumers generally have the impression that EVs run out of power quickly. Long charging time and insufficient charging stations are additional factors that hinder EV's growth.
However, EV's market is picking up its speed, and the explosive growth can be expected, especially driven by government policies, according to Ou. This is also the main reason why leading companies are scrambling for a share of the market. Taiwan's EV standards and regulations are close to its completion. EV battery life has greatly improved from a 100km range to 300km or above. There are DC charging stations that can charge an electric car's battery to its 80% in less than 40 minutes. On the other hand, for prolonging the battery life purpose, AC charging generally requires 4 to 12 hours which is recommended that EV owners charge their vehicles at home overnight. In brief, convenience and feasibility of EV charging have significantly improved.
The growing EV infrastructure market is now creating rising opportunities and in the years to come to those who are well prepared. To capture these opportunities, CWT has taken the initiative not only to work on its own power supply research but also to engage in joint developments with eTreego in an attempt to gain a strong foothold in the EV charging equipment market.
Wei-Ting Ou, in charge of CWT's EV charging pile department, expects flourishing opportunities as government policies promote EV adoption worldwide.
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