The global EV Charger market is forecast to grow from more than 1m units in 2014 to more than 12.7m units in 2020, according to a new report by IHS Automotive.

The report investigates the current and future regional deployments of EV charging stations and identifies factors for future growth.

“Deployments of EV charging stations are critical to enable a widespread adoption of electric plug-in vehicles,” said Ben Scott, senior analyst at IHS Automotive. “Most charging stations are expected to be installed in domestic applications, such as a dedicated wall box or simply a charging cord plugged into a household power source,” Scott said.

According to IHS Automotive, the global production market for pure electric and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) vehicles is expected to grow significantly between 2014 and 2020.

AC charging stations are the dominant type of plug-in vehicle charging type, and we expect AC charging to retain its position long-term,” Scott said. “AC charging is also an inexpensive and convenient way of charging requiring much smaller upgrades of the electricity grid, whereas DC charging is best suited for ‘en route’ charging.”

Because of this, IHS Automotive foresees that AC charging is to play a crucial role in the public domain of the EV charging infrastructure. According to the report, approximately 10 percent of EV charging stations by 2020 will be within the public or semi-public domain, whereas the global DC charging stations are expected to be relatively low and located on the outskirts of cities and highway infrastructure, rather than located in dense urban areas.

The report finds that the deployments of the charging stations are dependent on a highly variable price range. The price can range from $395 USD for a simple domestic wall box to more than $35,000 USD for a DC charging station. This figure does not include installation costs that could add $10,000 in the case of a DC charging station, depending on its location and accessibility.

In Europe, the report discloses, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway currently lead the way in terms of a number of charging station deployments.

“We recognize the potential of Germany and France,” Scott said. “They are the ‘sleeping giants’ of e-mobility, but their EV charging station networks are currently underdeveloped with respect to the size of those countries.”

Scott also said that the sales of electric vehicles in Germany and France have been relatively low in comparison to other European countries.