The Supply Chain Behind the Plug

From power semiconductors and liquid-cooled cables to cloud software and corridor funding rules, the EV-charging boom is being built by a surprisingly global cast of manufacturers, utilities, chipmakers, and policy makers. Here’s the map of who does what—and why it matters.

The scale of the build-out

The numbers are finally getting big. In 2024 alone, the world added more than 1.3 million public charging points, lifting the global stock by over 30% from the previous year. That single year of additions was roughly equal to all the public chargers the world had in 2020. China accounted for the bulk of the surge—about two-thirds of global charger growth since 2020—and now hosts ~65% of the world’s public charging points and ~60% of the global electric light-duty vehicle fleet. Europe crossed the one-million mark in public chargers at the end of 2024, while the United States accelerated but still trails both China and the EU in absolute numbers.

The growth is not just in socket count. DC fast charging—what enables long-distance travel and high-turnover fleet operations—added more than 170,000 fast points in 2024, with China again the main engine of expansion.

Behind those headline figures is a tight, industrial supply chain that looks less like “consumer electronics” and more like the power-grid industry: high-voltage enclosures, switchgear, rectifier racks, kilowatt-class power modules and cooling systems up front; silicon carbide power semiconductors and high-amp liquid-cooled cables in the middle; and cloud software, open protocols and roaming agreements at the back end. Regional policy leaves fingerprints all along the chain—from EU AFIR rules that dictate minimum coverage and card payments to U.S. NEVI standards that specify everything from protocol versions to American content thresholds.

The rest of this article breaks the ecosystem down by layer—hardware, semiconductors, cables & connectors, software, policy & permits, operations & economics—so you can see who builds what, where it’s made, and how the pieces fit together.

Layer 1: Hardware—who makes the boxes?

China: scale and speed

China’s manufacturing base turns out more charging hardware than any other region, feeding a vast domestic market and an increasing export footprint. Local leaders include TELD, Star Charge, TGOOD, XCharge, and state-utility-linked providers. In 2024, China alone added ~850,000 public charging points, the majority AC but with heavy growth in DC fast—numbers that dwarf year-over-year gains elsewhere. That hardware build-out is closely intertwined with state grid companies and municipal programs that shorten permitting and grid-tie timelines compared with many Western markets.

Europe: premium DC fast specialists—and growing capacity

Europe’s hardware scene punches above its weight in high-power DC. Three names dominate conversations on reliability and power density:

• ABB E-mobility (Switzerland/Sweden) — global deployments across 85+ markets, with a dedicated Valdarno, Italy factory that produces a DC fast charger roughly “every 20 minutes,” and U.S. production in South Carolina to meet Buy America/NEVI demand.

• Alpitronic (Italy) — maker of the Hypercharger line (HYC200/HYC400), rapidly expanding in Europe and—by mid-2025—widely reported as becoming the #2 fast-charging hardware provider in the U.S. behind Tesla, as networks standardize on compact, modular cabinets with 300–400 kW dispensers.

• Kempower (Finland) — modular cabinets with multiple satellite posts and strong uptime metrics for depots and corridors; opened a Durham, North Carolina factory in 2024 to serve NEVI builds.

Siemens eMobility anchors Europe’s AC/managed-fleet segment and manufactures in Carrollton, Texas, with the VersiCharge Blue line designed for U.S. requirements.

United States: the network is the brand

In the U.S., the most consequential hardware maker is also the largest network owner: Tesla. By early 2024, Tesla Supercharger ports accounted for about 60% of all U.S. public DC fast ports tracked by the federal station locator—giving the company both scale economics on hardware and the operational data to keep utilization high.

Non-Tesla networks (Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint-hosted DC, and others) rely on multi-vendor hardware—often ABB, Tritium, BTC Power, Signet, Siemens, Alpitronic, or Kempower—selected state-by-state via procurement for NEVI corridors. The U.S. market’s unique mix of protocol rules and Buy America content thresholds (more on those later) has pulled European and Asian suppliers to localize assembly stateside.

Layer 2: Power electronics—why silicon carbide sits at the center

Open a modern 150–400 kW DC charger and the bill of materials reads like a power-electronics textbook: AC/DC rectifier stages, DC/DC converters, gate drivers, magnetics, busbars, and thermal management, orchestrated by a control stack that speaks both grid and vehicle. The headline shift under the hood is the rapid adoption of silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, which cut switching losses, shrink cabinets, and raise efficiency—especially above 150 kW.

• Infineon opened the first phase of Kulim 3 (Malaysia) in August 2024, calling it the world’s largest 200 mm SiC power fab, tied into an Austria–Malaysia “virtual fab” for rapid ramp. This capacity directly supports EV powertrains and fast-charger OEMs.

• STMicroelectronics is building a fully integrated SiC campus in Catania, Italy, with EU state support, targeting production starting mid-decade—again for both vehicle inverters and industrial/charging uses.

• Wolfspeed, long a bellwether for SiC wafers and devices in North America, went through a turbulent 2024–2025 (plant closure, restructuring and Chapter 11), but by September 2025 it emerged from bankruptcy with a lower debt load and a reaffirmed strategy around 200 mm SiC. The episode underscored how semiconductor capacity risk can ripple into charger lead times and pricing.

The takeaway: the EV charger is now a semiconductor product as much as an electrical enclosure. Upstream wafer capacity additions and yield improvements will continue to shape hardware cost curves and delivery schedules.

Layer 3: Cables, connectors, and cooling—moving hundreds of amps safely

Delivering 250–400 kW to a passenger car (and higher for heavy trucks) requires high-current, often liquid-cooled cables and rugged connectors:

• Phoenix Contact pioneered High Power Charging (HPC) technology with liquid-cooled cable assemblies and connectors designed for up to 500 A continuous operation at high duty cycles—now commonplace on European 350–400 kW sites.

• HUBER+SUHNER’s RADOX HPC line supplies many premium sites with ergonomic, lighter-weight liquid-cooled leads, enabling sustained high currents without overheating or premature insulation aging.

• Connector standards are in flux. In North America, Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) became SAE J3400 in 2024 and is being adopted by virtually all major automakers; hardware vendors now offer J3400 handles alongside CCS1 to serve mixed fleets. Europe stays with CCS2 (combo), while China is migrating the GB/T DC ecosystem toward ChaoJi (GB/T 20234.4 / CHAdeMO 3.0)—a harmonized high-power system designed for 600 A and up to ~1–1.5 kV.

The subtext is materials: copper content in cables and busbars, specialized dielectrics for thermal management, and the reliability demands of outdoor enclosures. As currents climb and megawatt-class truck charging ramps (MCS), expect more liquid cooling, heavier gauge conductors, and standardized swappable cable assemblies to simplify field maintenance.

Layer 4: Software, standards, and the cloud—what actually makes chargers “work”

Modern charging is an IT system with a power front-end. The key alphabet soup:

• OCPP (Open Charge Point Protocol) governs EVSE ↔ network (CPO) communications. The U.S. NEVI rule requires OCPP 2.0.1 for funded installations (superseding 1.6J), pushing the industry into a more secure, feature-rich stack that supports advanced diagnostics and smart-charging. The Open Charge Alliance stewards the standard; OCPP 2.1 is now in draft/public review and adds support for bidirectional charging and richer pricing models.

• ISO 15118 is the EV ↔ charger communications layer (the Vehicle-to-Grid interface). The current -20 edition enables Plug&Charge and bidirectional (V2G/V2H) use cases that utilities and fleets want for grid services. Field pilots in Europe show the tech is maturing, with certificate management the main remaining hurdle.

• Roaming and payments ride on OCPI/OICP frameworks and platform providers (e.g., Hubject, eMSPs), with AFIR in Europe now requiring ad-hoc card payments on public DC and better price transparency—nudging software vendors to upgrade.

On top sit commercial platforms—ChargePoint, Driivz (Vontier), Monta, Shell Recharge Solutions (formerly Greenlots), ABB’s and Siemens’ own stacks—handling asset management, fault codes, tariffs, smart-charging schedules, and roaming. The market is consolidating around feature-complete, standards-led backends that can swap hardware vendors without re-wiring the network logic.

Layer 5: Policy, incentives, and compliance—why rules shape the hardware you see

United States: NEVI, CFI—and Buy America

Two big federal spigots fund U.S. charging: the $5 billion NEVI Formula Program (corridor-focused) and the $2.5 billion CFI grants (community and corridor). NEVI comes with minimum standards: uptime and interoperability targets, OCPP 2.0.1, ISO 15118 Plug&Charge capability, four 150 kW ports per site minimum (expandable), and workforce certifications. In 2025 FHWA tightened Buy America rules by terminating its decades-old waiver for manufactured products, phasing in final assembly in the U.S. and 55% domestic component content—a change that pushed European and Asian OEMs to localize production.

The government is still topping up corridor builds with CFI discretionary grants—for example, $521 million in late-2024 to add ~9,200 ports—while also updating NEVI guidance in 2025 to accelerate deployments.

European Union: AFIR sets the floor

The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) took effect in 2023 and starts biting in 2025. Among other requirements, AFIR calls for minimum fast-charging coverage at regular intervals on the TEN-T core network (e.g., 60 km spacing targets by mid-decade for light vehicles), contactless card payments on public DC, transparent pricing, and better consumer information—all of which shape where and how networks invest. Member States publish national policy frameworks; the Commission monitors delivery.

China: industrial policy at grid speed

China’s central and provincial programs—standard-setting (e.g., ChaoJi/GB/T updates), grid interconnect planning with State Grid and CNOOC/CEC, and targeted subsidies—help explain how the country added ~850k public charging points in 2024. Standards are evolving to support higher power levels and inter-operability with legacy GB/T and even CCS/CHAdeMO via adapters—future-proofing investments for the 2026–2030 EV wave.

Regions and market structure—who leads where?

China remains the deployment heavyweight in both AC residential/curbside and DC fast due to urban density and widespread on-street charging. Europe leads in high-quality DC corridor builds with a maturing vendor base (ABB, Alpitronic, Kempower, Siemens), and a patchwork of national CPOs integrated by roaming agreements. The United States shows rapid momentum in high-power DC—driven first by Tesla’s Supercharger build-out and now by NEVI’s 150 kW-and-up spec—and a slower but steady expansion of Level 2 in workplaces and multi-unit dwellings.

By network share, Tesla still dominates U.S. fast charging (about 60% of public DC ports in Q1-2024), though multi-vendor NEVI sites are scaling in 2025 and newer European entrants are gaining share.

What goes into a charger (and who supplies it)

Think of a 150–400 kW DC charger as four stacks:

1. Grid side
   Padmount transformer (utility), switchgear, metering, and protective devices. Lead times and utility coordination dominate. (Permitting and interconnect rules vary sharply by state/country and utility.)

2. Power rack
   Hot-swappable rectifier bricks or power modules (often SiC-based), DC link capacitors, magnetics, contactors/relays, EMI filters, and liquid cooling. Suppliers include Infineon, STMicroelectronics, onsemi, Wolfspeed (materials/devices); TE Connectivity (contactors); Sensata/ABB/Siemens (protection). Cabinet integration by OEMs (ABB/Alpitronic/Kempower/Siemens/Delta/Signet, etc.).

3. Dispenser & cable
   Liquid-cooled HPC cable assemblies, CCS2/J3400/GB/T/ChaoJi connectors (Phoenix Contact, HUBER+SUHNER, ITT Cannon), displays, payment terminals (in EU/AFIR), RFID/NFC readers.

4. Compute & comms
   Embedded controller, OCPP 2.0.1 stack, ISO 15118-20 stack, LTE/ethernet, security modules, diagnostics, and remote firmware update systems—hosted by CPO backends (ChargePoint, Driivz/Vontier, Shell Recharge Solutions, ABB, Siemens, Monta).

Economics and operations—utilization, reliability, and demand charges

The fragile part of the story is operations. Reliability remains a pain point: J.D. Power’s 2024 EV public charging study again reported low satisfaction scores, with a meaningful share of visits running into inoperable chargers, payment faults, or session errors—issues that not only frustrate drivers but crater station economics by reducing paid sessions.

On the P&L, utilization is king. A 150–350 kW site lives or dies by the number of sessions per day per port and the kWh per session. In many U.S. jurisdictions, demand charges can dominate the utility bill at low utilization—until a site reaches steady throughput, revenue can lag far behind opex. NREL has documented how tariff design and managed charging strategies (battery buffering, scheduled power caps, or co-located solar/storage) can materially improve station economics.

Policy helps but isn’t a blank check. NEVI’s minimum spec forces higher-power hardware and OCPP 2.0.1/15118 features that aid uptime and roaming, but the Buy America content ramp adds cost and supply-chain complexity, at least near-term. CFI grants and state programs can close capex gaps, yet developers still face interconnect timelines that can run longer than the build itself.

Standards convergence—finally

Two big trends are simplifying a once-bewildering landscape:

1. North American connector convergence: With SAE J3400 formalizing Tesla’s NACS as an open standard, new U.S. builds increasingly offer both J3400 and CCS1 cables. As OEMs ship J3400 inlets, complexity declines, and session success rates should rise.

2. Digital layer maturity: The jump to OCPP 2.0.1 (and soon 2.1) and the rollout of ISO 15118-20 enable Plug&Charge, richer diagnostics, and bidirectional services—crucial for fleets and utilities seeking controllable load. Testbeds show 15118-20 V2G is technically ready; the bottleneck is now certificate logistics and cross-vendor interoperability.

China’s move toward ChaoJi similarly aims to unify and future-proof high-power DC, keeping pace with rising vehicle voltages and heavy-duty needs without fragmenting hardware ecosystems.

Who’s winning—and why

Hardware vendors

• ABB remains the best-known global DC supplier, with manufacturing on two continents and a deep service footprint—advantages in NEVI-era U.S. procurement and AFIR-driven European upgrades.

• Alpitronic has become the darling of premium corridor networks thanks to compact cabinets, modularity and uptime; its U.S. rise reflects buyer preference for fewer, more reliable vendors at 300–400 kW.

• Kempower delivers elegant multi-post layouts with strong depot credentials and now U.S. manufacturing, a plus under NEVI + Buy America.

• Siemens offers a full AC/DC line backed by industrial-grade service—especially relevant for fleets and facilities that want one vendor for building infrastructure and charge management.

Networks & operators

• Tesla still sets the U.S. bar for utilization and reliability, with ~60% of public DC ports as of early 2024; opening parts of Supercharger to non-Tesla vehicles and migrating to J3400 broadens addressable revenue.

• CPO aggregators and oil-majors-backed players (e.g., Shell Recharge, bp pulse) are expanding via acquisition and large multi-country tenders, betting that software and service quality—not just iron in the ground—will differentiate in mature markets.

Semiconductors & components

• Infineon and STMicroelectronics are positioned to supply the SiC wave at scale; Wolfspeed’s restructuring reminds the sector that materials capacity is a strategic risk factor for every charger OEM’s delivery timeline and cost base.

Software platforms

• Standards-first platforms (ChargePoint, Driivz/Vontier, Monta, ABB/Siemens) that abstract hardware differences and automate diagnostics, tariffing, and roaming should keep taking share from bespoke stacks—especially where NEVI/AFIR make certification and transparency table stakes.

Challenges that still slow the rollout

1. Interconnect and civil works
   In many geographies, the long pole in the tent is utility interconnect and permitting, not hardware delivery—grid upgrades can add months. AFIR and NEVI set targets; local utilities and municipalities determine whether those targets are met.

2. Reliability at scale
   A single failed contactor or payment terminal can sideline a dispenser; legacy OCPP 1.6J stacks obscured root-cause analysis. Moving fleets to OCPP 2.0.1 and 15118 should improve telemetry and “self-healing,” but this is a work in progress, as reflected in recurring J.D. Power findings.

3. Station economics
   Demand charges, vandalism, parts theft, and seasonal utilization swings can crush margins. NREL shows that tariff reform, battery buffering, and co-located renewables can meaningfully change outcomes; operators are experimenting with peak-shaving and power sharing across dispensers.

4. Supply-chain exposure
   Chargers are heavy on copper, aluminum, and SiC. Commodity price spikes and device shortages filter straight into BOM costs, while Buy America content rules constrain vendor choice in the U.S. and raise coordination complexity for global OEMs ramping local assembly.

5. Standard transitions
   The J3400 (NACS) migration in North America is a net positive but creates a two-standard interim (J3400 + CCS1), and software stacks must gracefully handle mixed payment, pricing, and Plug&Charge experiences across vehicle generations.

The policy-driven design of tomorrow’s sites

• U.S. NEVI + Buy America → more on-shore assembly, hardened spares logistics, certified workforce, and OCPP 2.0.1/15118 baked in from day one. This has already pulled ABB, Siemens, Kempower and others into U.S. factories.

• EU AFIR → enforced card payments, transparent pricing, and coverage guarantees along the TEN-T network force CPOs to design for ad-hoc users and predictable availability. Expect more redundant dispensers, clearer UI, and roaming parity across borders.

• China’s ChaoJi → a unified high-power DC ecosystem that increases backwards compatibility and simplifies manufacturing for domestic suppliers serving a massive, policy-aligned market—while staying export-capable.

The BNEF macro view—load is coming

Independent of who wins each tender, the macro trend remains intact: charging demand follows EV adoption, and public infrastructure is scaling. BloombergNEF’s 2025 outlook underscores that more charging points are being built worldwide, with cost pressures and local constraints varying by market; each country will settle into a different mix of home, workplace, depot, and public charging. For suppliers, that means portfolio breadth and software flexibility matter as much as raw power ratings.

What to watch next (and why)

1. Megawatt charging for trucks
   As long-haul electric trucks arrive, MCS (megawatt charging) deployments begin to reshape sites: 1 MW+ cabinets, heavier cables, stricter thermal management, and dedicated grid service contracts. European vendors (e.g., Alpitronic) are rolling out early systems in 2025.

2. 15118-enabled V2G pilots at scale
   Fleets and multi-family sites will lean into bidirectional services as utilities seek flexible capacity. The technology is ready; the certificate ecosystem and market rules are catching up.

3. Connector convergence outcomes
   As North America standardizes on J3400, procurement will simplify—and so should maintenance—but watch how quickly legacy CCS1 sites retrofit or dual-cable.

4. Semiconductor supply normalization
   The pace at which SiC capacity ramps (Infineon, ST, post-reorg Wolfspeed) will influence charger pricing and lead times through 2026–2027.

5. Operational KPIs published by regulation
   Expect regulators (EU and U.S. states) to push for public uptime disclosures and standardized reliability metrics—a forcing function for vendors to converge on best-in-class diagnostics and spares strategies.

Bottom line

The world’s EV-charging rollout isn’t a single market; it’s a stack of interlocking industries: utilities and civil works, power-electronics manufacturing, semiconductors, connectors and cables, cloud software and protocols, and policy. China is scaling fastest in absolute numbers. Europe is setting the tone on consumer-friendly rules and high-power corridor reliability. The U.S. is now moving decisively, with NEVI standards and Buy America catalyzing local manufacturing and modern software baselines—even as interconnect timelines, demand charges, and site reliability demand operational excellence.

If there’s one unifying idea, it’s this: the winners won’t just sell boxes. They’ll own the full stack—from SiC procurement and liquid-cooled cables to diagnostics, roaming, and grid services—and they’ll be fluent in the policy of each region. That’s how you turn a charger into a profitable, reliable piece of infrastructure instead of an expensive metal monument.