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Oct. 20, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2021 PEI STATE OF THE INDUSTRY: MOST EV CHARGING INSTALLS NOT AT C-STORES, RETAIL FUELING REVENUE STEADY

Only 42% of surveyed PEI members involved in EV charging installations said their EV projects were at convenience stores. 

TULSA, Oklahoma, Oct. 20, 2021/Petroleum Equipment Institute/ -- Today, you'll find less than half of PEI members' electric vehicle (EV) charging installations at convenience stores, according to the association's annual "State of the Industry."

A video of the presentation is available on the PEI YouTube channel. Slides are available here.

In this case, "less than half" is 42% of surveyed PEI members involved in EV charging. Most respondents said you're more likely to see their EV installations at government and office buildings, parking lots, parking garages, shopping centers, restaurants and apartments.

That stat, along with much of the data cited in the "State of the Industry," emerged from the 2021 PEI Member Survey. 

The survey also shows PEI members shouldn't write off convenience stores. The number of surveyed PEI distributors and contractors who said their revenue comes from retail fueling remains steady. 

"We are still a heavily oriented retail business," said Rick Long, of PEI, during the presentation. "Every year, I get up here and I say maybe that's going to change — maybe that trend is going to change. It hasn't."  

Fleet fueling and government contract work increased 2% and 1% respectively during the same period, according to surveyed members.

Several topics from the 2020 PEI survey stuck around in 2021. Other topics interrupted the standard conversations.

"I'm going to talk about some things that were not even on the radar last year,” Long said. 

Among 2021 PEI Member Survey results:

• 90.8% said supply chain is the biggest issue. (Supply chain didn't make the list in 2020. Last year, 59.8% of respondents said a skilled labor shortage was the No. 1 biggest issue.)  
• 51.1% said they have not bought cybersecurity insurance. (And 10% didn't know if they had bought it or not.)
• 29.4% said their company had been victimized by a cybercrime during the past 12 months.
• 86% of respondents said they've had a confirmed COVID-19 case among staff.
• 10% said a family member or co-worker has died from COVID-19.
• 23.5% said their company is actively engaged in EV charger installation or service. (And 30.6% said they plan to get involved.) 

HOW'S BUSINESS?

On a scale of 1 to 10, surveyed distributors and contractors ranked current business conditions a 6.77 (down from 6.91 in 2020 and 7.22 in 2019). Surveyed members said commercial work, aging underground storage tank (UST) system upgrades, retail work and EMV installations are performing especially well.

Manufacturers ranked current business conditions in 2021 a 6.54 on a scale of 1 to 10 (up from 6.28 in 2020, and down from 7.27 in 2019). They cited aging infrastructure upgrades, new products, international sales and new retail construction as the year’s bright spots.

More than 71% of surveyed distributors and contractors and more than 77% of manufacturers described themselves as extremely or moderately optimistic about their businesses during the next three years.

BIGGEST ISSUES

In 2021, surveyed PEI members said their biggest issues are supply chain disruptions (90.8%), shortage of skilled labor (74.5%), manufacturer/distributor relations (38.8%) and procrastination related to EMV upgrades (31%) and UST testing and inspections (17.2%).  

EMV has made the list several years.

"We've gone from, 'The deadline is coming,' to, 'The deadline has been delayed,' to, 'The deadline is here,' to, 'Now we're past the deadline, and where do we stand as an industry on these upgrades?'" Long said. 

Respondents in October said 65.2% of forecourts have completed EMV upgrades. That's up from 56.2% in April and 49.5% in October 2020. Respondents in the latest survey also said 24.2% of EMV orders had not been placed, and 10.6% of sites are in the process of upgrading. 

"And by the way," Long said, "the distributors and contractors who participated in the survey collectively service about 50,000 stores. So that's the scale here. It's a pretty good sample, I think."

The U.S. has some 153,000 retail fueling facilities.   

Long delivered his remarks Oct. 7 in conjunction with the 2021 PEI Convention at the NACS Show in Chicago, the organization’s 71st annual convention and trade show.

NEXT YEAR

The next PEI Convention at the NACS Show will be Oct. 1-4, 2022, in Las Vegas.

Founded in 1951, PEI is composed of more than 1,600 companies engaged in manufacturing and distributing equipment used in the fuel and fluid handling industry. Members are located in 50 states and 81 countries. PEI, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the leading authority and source of information for the fuel and fluid handling equipment and services industry. For more information, visit www.pei.org.