Frank Mühlon, CEO, and Alex Hall, CFO of ABB’s E-mobility division, as well as other members of the executive team, will give an insight into its product offering, including electric vehicle charging products, digital services and advanced energy and fleet management solutions, as well as its growth strategy.
“We are a leader in building a zero-emission future, with smart and reliable electric vehicle charging solutions. We are perfectly aligned to the current E-mobility trends and see massive market opportunities driven by the global electrification and digitalization agendas of countries, corporations and individuals,” said Mühlon.
According to external estimates1, roughly 130 million new electric vehicles are expected on roads in key markets2 from 2021 to 2030, while some $590 billion in investment in EV charging infrastructure is required from 2021 to 2040 to meet global emission targets.
ABB entered the EV-charging market in 2010 and today is a world leader in EV charging solutions having sold more than 680,000 electric vehicle chargers across more than 85 markets: over 30,000 DC fast chargers and 650,000 AC chargers. It has a portfolio of EV charging hardware for cars through to public transport and heavy-duty vehicles, software and services with a variety of B2B and B2C networked solutions and fleet management platforms.
Over the last four years, ABB’s E-mobility division achieved a compound annual growth (CAGR) rate in its revenues of about 60 percent, driven by accelerating order growth across all customer segments and strategic acquisitions across targeted geographies. So far this year, ABB has announced the acquisition of a controlling interest in InCharge Energy, a North American electric vehicle commercial charging infrastructure solutions company, and increased its existing controlling stake in Chargedot, a leading Chinese e-mobility solution provider.
The business is targeting revenue growth of 40-45 percent in 2022 after achieving $323 million in revenues in 2021, backed by a significant order intake and resulting order backlog. In the mid-term, ABB expects revenues to outperform the market by growing 25-30 percent per year. To support its ongoing growth story, the company has a funding need of approximately $750 million to finance acquisitions and organic growth investments.
In terms of profitability, the division is expecting an operational EBITDA margin around break-even in 2022 as the focus remains on investing heavily in growth. In the mid-term, an operational EBITDA margin of 15-20 percent is targeted driven by operating leverage, as well as a different portfolio mix as the company’s software solutions and digital services offering grow.
ABB E-mobility aims to migrate from a hardware-focused business towards a balance with software and digital services, offering customers access to fully integrated end-to-end platforms, with the aim of securing higher gross margins and recurring revenues.
Digital solutions enable customers to efficiently maintain and manage a charging network. Meanwhile, advanced energy and fleet management offerings help customers to optimize the performance of both chargers and their EVs, while enabling lower cost of ownership. Last year, ABB’s digital e-mobility venture, PANION, together with Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched the test phase of their first jointly developed, cloud-based solution, designed for the real-time management of electric vehicle fleets and charging infrastructure.
ABB has been one of the first movers to bring innovations to the EV charging market, including the liquid cooling applied to cables for high-power chargers, bi-directional charging with frequency containment reserve that means EV drivers can export surplus power back to the grid, as well as the launch of the Terra 360 kW – the world’s fastest EV charger.
Since 2017, ABB has invested $256 million in the E-mobility business. A culture of innovation is driven by over 350 R&D experts, who are part of a total workforce of approximately 1,000. Its five production hubs are in the US, China, Poland, Hungary and Italy – its largest plant, which will be fully operational in mid-2022. In addition, it has eight R&D sites worldwide and has more than 350 patents granted.
Two exciting projects in development include supporting the electrification of long-range trucks by developing a new standard megawatt charging system (MCS), which will support up to 3MW. The first systems have already been sold to leading truck OEMs. Furthermore, ABB is developing a dedicated liquid cooled charger for the Chinese market with dynamic load allocation and up to four dispensers, enabling a charging speed of up to 200 km of range in five minutes.
As part of the strategy to fund future growth, a separate legal entity for this business – ABB E-mobility Holding AG – has been created, to which, Michael Halbherr (57) has been appointed Chairman. Swiss national Halbherr started his career at Boston Consulting Group and has been CEO of mobile maps and navigation pioneer gate5, which was acquired by Nokia. He then became part of Nokia’s leadership team, running their Services business unit and then HERE Technologies as a CEO, which was sold later to a consortium of German automotive companies to serve as the foundation for the autonomous driving revolution. He is currently a founder, investor and board member of several start-up technology companies, as well as a Board Member of Zurich Insurance Group and Vontobel Holding of
ABB is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com
