Global EV charging infrastructure set to nearly double by 2030 amid technological and policy uncertainties

GlobalData’s new report, “Electric Vehicles in Power”, underscores a rapid expansion of global EV charging infrastructure driven by accelerating EV uptake and tighter emissions regulation. According to GlobalData, the market for chargers will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.6%, rising from about 5.8 million units in 2025 to 11.0 million units by 2030. The analyst house highlights China and the United States as primary growth engines, backed by substantial public investment and domestic manufacturing scale. The report also singles out high‑speed charging and vehicle‑to‑grid (V2G) technologies as strategic priorities for the power sector as EV fleets scale.

The GlobalData forecast sits amid a wide range of projections from other market researchers, reflecting differing assumptions about deployment models, revenue mixes and policy ambition. Grand View Research estimates a markedly larger market value, forecasting the global EV charging‑infrastructure market to reach about USD 125.4 billion by 2030 and projecting a 25.5% CAGR from 2025–2030. By contrast, MarketsandMarkets presents a more modest revenue outlook, projecting growth from USD 7.3 billion in 2024 to USD 12.1 billion by 2030 at an 8.8% CAGR. Long‑range studies offer still larger system footprints: ABI Research expects nearly 41 million public charging points by 2035, while PwC’s US‑focused analysis forecasts US charging points climbing from roughly 4 million today to about 35 million by 2030 to serve an anticipated 27 million EVs that year.

Those differences matter for industrial decarbonisation planning because infrastructure scale, charger mix and location determine grid impacts, capital requirements and business models. GlobalData and other analysts agree that expanding fast and ultra‑fast public charging will be critical to meet long‑distance and fleet needs, while residential and workplace charging will shape daily load profiles. PwC highlights a structural shift toward workplace charging, forecasting that at‑work chargers will represent about 17% of the US market by 2030 , a transition that redistributes demand away from overnight residential peaks and into daytime commercial feeders.

Grid operators and utilities face immediate technical and investment choices. GlobalData cautions that the “most immediate impact” of a larger EV fleet is increased electricity demand, requiring upgrades to transformers, substations and distribution feeders. Smart charging, demand‑response and V2G are presented as tools to align charging with system conditions; the GlobalData report notes companies including Vattenfall, E.ON and Nuvve as active in developing V2G solutions that treat EV batteries as mobile storage assets. ABI Research’s revenue and unit forecasts reinforce this, projecting a market where DC fast chargers generate the bulk of public charging revenue even if AC chargers remain numerically dominant.

The diversity of market estimates also signals differing expectations about policy, private capital and the pace of technology adoption. Global Growth Insights projects an aggressive ten‑year expansion to 2034 with strong residential demand growth and fast‑charging deployment, while Grand View and MarketsandMarkets frame the market in revenue terms that depend heavily on charger pricing and service monetisation. Transaction activity cited by GlobalData , for example, Charge Zone’s $19m raise from British International Investment in May 2024 and small‑scale investments such as GLIDA’s 2023 expansion plans , illustrates continuing investor interest but also the fragmented, regional nature of many deployments.

For industry stakeholders in industrial decarbonisation, the implications are concrete. Network planners must translate charger‑unit forecasts into locational capacity upgrades and operational regimes; equipment manufacturers and EPC contractors should anticipate demand for power‑dense substations, fast‑charger power supplies and grid‑edge storage; corporate energy managers need to factor workplace and depot charging into onsite capacity and tariff strategies. The emergence of V2G and smart charging opens opportunities for flexible capacity markets and ancillary services, but realising those opportunities depends on interoperability standards, regulatory frameworks and clear commercial arrangements between vehicle owners, aggregators and system operators.

In summary, GlobalData’s mid‑term projection of 11.0 million charging units by 2030 provides a pragmatic growth baseline, but the breadth of external forecasts , from tens of millions of points by the mid‑2030s to widely varying revenue estimates for 2030 , underlines substantial uncertainty about deployment pace, charger mix and monetisation. That uncertainty increases the value of scenario planning: businesses and utilities engaged in industrial decarbonisation should prepare for multiple outcomes by prioritising modular, upgradeable infrastructure, investing in smart controls and integrating charging strategy with broader decarbonisation and grid‑resilience objectives.