Electric Vehicle Charging Generating Growth in Building Energy Management Systems

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As more organizations begin to implement charging stations for electric vehicles into their facilities, the power needs associated with such improvements are creating higher demand in the building energy management systems (BEMS) market, according to a report from Guidehouse Insights.

The report says the BEMS market will grow to $12.7 billion by 2030 with an annual growth rate of 4% from 2021.

Guidehouse Insights says with the increased use of electric vehicles by organizations for their operations, which includes the need to implement charging stations as part of their buildings, some sites will be able to handle the additional energy demand. Many facilities, though, will likely exceed their power capacity.

According to Guidehouse, the need to add charging stations will impact nearly 10% of commercial properties.

With the necessary upgrades, planning can be complicated and include electrical infrastructure and charging configuration analysis, which makes the BEMS market important. The report also looks at the revenue associated with sales of surplus power enabled by the electric fleet charging infrastructure.

Building energy consumption has been estimated at 40% of the total energy use worldwide. The estimates for electric fleets also keeps growing, with BloombergNEF forecasting 677 million of them on the road by 2040.

That combination creates a significant energy demand and there is a new need for these capabilities to work together.

One such program, developed by SWTCH Energy, is looking at how charging stations in buildings can capture energy to improve the building’s efficiency and reduce costs. That program is studying vehicle-to-grid charging technology by looking at how an electric vehicle charger can store energy through a parked Nissan Leaf during off-peak hours.

Managed charging is also taking a look at how infrastructure can impact utilities and how programs can benefit both the user and the grid. Additionally, programs such as one by Catalyze and Microgrid Labs can help businesses and communities plan, develop and install fleet electrification platforms and provide renewable power generation and storage infrastructure, which can help with the transitions.

“Many of these sites need to upgrade their BEMSs, and many more need to install a BEMS solution for the first time to support load management associated with charging EV fleets,” says William Hughes, principal research analyst with Guidehouse Insights.