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If electric vehicles are to be successful, there needs to be a charging infrastructure for them. But for the infrastructure to make economic sense, there needs to be a demand from EV drivers.

In a nutshell, that’s the dilemma cities across the globe face.

West Michigan has an added dimension in that many want to support the state’s fledgling battery industry. Groups such as the Clean Energy Coalition, the West Michigan Energy group and others aim to increase the resources available to EV drivers and to promote West Michigan’s advanced battery manufacturing.

But it might be premature for the drivers they are supposed to be serving. Sales of EVs are rising, but JD Power forecasts EV sales will be less than 1 percent of the market in 2017. Just 7 percent of consumers considering a new vehicle were contemplating buying an EV, according to Kelly Blue Book.

Range anxiety, the limited availability of charging stations and the up-front cost of EVs all pose challenges, said Rob Ozar, manager of the Michigan Public Service Commission’s plug-in vehicle preparedness taskforce.

But building an infrastructure to support a future client base is “impractical,” said Seth Gerber, Electric Vehicle Program Manager at Consumers Energy. “There is a perception that in five to 10 years, 50 percent of all vehicles sold will be electric. We are realistically projecting penetration at 2020 below 10 percent,” he said, noting supplying energy to charge those cars won’t be an issue “even at 20 to 25 percent penetration.”

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• consumers energy
• jd power
• seth gerber