A few minutes in the traffic of a large Brazilian city are enough to identify at least one electric car. A close observer will also find several of the porters responsible for keeping these vehicles running at points such as malls, gas stations and Charging Stations.
But the arrival of new manufacturers, such as the BYDas well as bolder electrification projections coming from most main automakers to raise the question: after all, are there sufficient loading points in Brazil for the vehicle mode that has almost doubled their sales in the country in recent years?
In 2024 alone, the number of porters grew 182% in Brazil, from 4.3 thousand at the end of 2023 to 12.13 thousand, points data from the technology company for Tupi electric mobility. In the last quarter alone, the loading infrastructure increased by 1,515 points.
“There is a recommendation that speaks of 10 electrified cars [o que inclui elétricos e híbridos] to a public recharge point. If we look at Brazil’s number, it is quite reasonable, ”says Tupi’s executive president, Davi Bertoncello.
In all, 397,000 electrified vehicles were sold in Brazil, according to data from the Brazilian Association of the Electric Vehicle (Abve). It is estimated that about 204,000 of them are plug-in-that is, they need to be connected to a charger. It is a number that meets the recommendation.
In the sector, it is not uncommon to hear a version of its own of the classic dilemma of the “egg or the chicken”. It is about understanding whether the loading or loading infrastructure encourages consumers to buy electrified.
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“In the dream world, the two come together, but here in Brazil, the cars came first. And it wasn’t just in Brazil, it was almost around the world, ”says Bertoncello. For a while, buying loading infrastructure was very expensive. In 2019, a fast electric charger cost an average of $ 1 million, this amount today is $ 250,000.
The expansion of the quick recharge network is the big question now: there are only 1,516 points of this type in Brazil. They are the ones who guarantee that gasoline -style loading, a quick stop for long trips or whole days of direction in the city.
Reducing the cost of loaders by 1/4 stimulates the installation of loading points by shortening the time to obtain return on investment. In the Tupi network, the minimum daily revenue determined by a type charger is $ 350. Depending on the location of points and commercial agreements, these gains can reach $ 1,500.
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The company’s expectation is that next year, the power installed in porters more than doubles, even if the amount of points does not grow at the same pace. “The expectation is that only this year there will be an increase of something like 2,000 fast porters, which would lead us to have at least 3,500 fast porters throughout Brazil after 2025,” says the executive.
TUPI operates in a B2B2C model, offering services to business and also to the end consumer. It works like this: If a company wants to open charging stations, Tupi offers a platform for vehicle owners to pay for energy. The points are recorded and one application shows where they can load cars.
When any of the more than 140,000 platform users access the application, it will come across a concentration of 5.14 thousand porters only in the states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with 2.36,000 of them in the capitals.
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For Bertoncello, this dynamic should be normal in the sector. Given the high density of large cities, the amount of loading services is higher and, especially, the stations are necessary because there are not always infrastructure for loading inside the houses – or rather apartments.
“Inside, in general, there are more houses than buildings, it is a balm for the electric car, because it is much easier to install a residential charger,” he says. Although the state of Sao Paulo today escapes the curve, a kind of “California” when compared to the adhesion to the US with the United States, the network has grown outside the Southeast region.
Bahia, for example, is already the seventh state in number of porters in Brazil. It is the state that is about to house BYD’s car production, Chinese giant in the electrical manufacturing industry that in the coming years.
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According to ABVE data, there were 93.9 thousand electricity sold by 2023, an increase of 90.7% compared to the previous year. By 2024, sales grew 88.8%to 177.3 thousand.
