by Per Gadenius | September 10, 2025
Electric vehicle adoption is moving from early niche to mainstream. According to the 2025 McKinsey Mobility Consumer Pulse Survey, EV uptake has increased worldwide, albeit varied by region. For example, in 2024, about 50 percent of vehicles sold in China were EVs, while they accounted for 21 percent of vehicles sold in Europe and 10 percent in the United States, with 45% of Chinese respondents say their next car will be an EV, versus 23% in Europe and 12% in the U.S. For the U.S. specifically, independent analysis from the ICCT confirms the 10% 2024 EV share with 1.56 million sales.
In our previous posts, we have discussed how cellular connectivity is driving electric vehicles adoption around the globe. But beyond its critical role in enabling infrastructure and supporting manufacturing and logistics, cellular connectivity is also vital for EVs day-to-day functions.
Electric cars are fundamentally more dependent on cellular connectivity than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. While modern ICE cars may include connected features like infotainment and remote access, these are mainly optional and additive. Their core functions, like driving and fueling, remain fully independent of connectivity.
In contrast, electric vehicles are built around cellular connectivity. Unlike ICE cars, EVs rely on real-time communication for critical functions like smart charging, battery diagnostics, and what is even more important, for over-the-air (OTA) software updates that affect performance and safety. Without constant connectivity, many EV functions may degrade or become inaccessible. Connectivity in ICE cars enhances convenience, whereas for EVs, it underpins the entire ecosystem.
Let’s look at the features that are critically dependent on cellular connectivity:
The EV Battery’s Invisible Fuel: Connectivity
The traction battery in electric vehicles depends on a steady data link for two reasons. One is reporting data such as state of charge, state of health, temperature, voltage across cells, fault codes, etc. This information is critical for a number of recipients, in particular manufacturers, fleet operators and service centers, since it allows for predictive maintenance and safety monitoring (for instance, early detection of thermal runaway risks). The other is receiving software updates that can improve battery performance and optimize charging algorithms, which is important for safety and range, and sometimes charging speed. It can also help fix bugs in the battery management software.
If the car stays offline for long, it can miss important calibrations and lose a reliable record for diagnostics and warranty. Moreover, regulations require connectivity as well – for example, from 2027 in the EU, EV must carry a Digital Battery Passport, a cloud-hosted record that exposes lifecycle and performance data over many years. Stable on-board connectivity is important to keep this passport data accurate and retrievable in the field for periodic synchronization of identity or event logs. This data is also critical for the emerging market of battery swapping.
For charging, connectivity is also important. A few years ago, oftentimes, if a driver’s mobile phone couldn’t connect to a mobile network, the app needed to start charging wouldn’t work. Today, the number of app-only public chargers is rapidly decreasing, because new rules in the US, EU and UK now require on-site payment methods beyond apps. Besides, when charging at public charging stations, most of the communication runs through the charger’s own network. But between sessions the car needs its cellular link to keep charging contracts and smart-charging settings up to date, so that everything works smoothly when the car is plugged in. For example, Plug & Charge and V2G credentials use digital certificates, which are installed once and then renewed or revoked occasionally. The car’s modem handles that background so authentication is instant when the car arrives at a station.
Beyond the Motor: How Connectivity Powers the Powertrain
An EV’s powertrain is software-defined. That means that many calibrations such as how much torque the motor delivers, how regenerative braking feels, or when to limit power for protection, evolve after delivery.
Automakers regularly improve that software and deliver improvements via over-the-air (OTA) updates. A built-in SIM lets the car receive those updates anywhere, without the owner having to find Wi-Fi. Without cellular connection, the powertrain can run on stale settings, but that can mean less efficiency and a rougher drive feel, or, what is more critical, delayed safety fixes. For example, in October 2023, Tesla had to recall certain models in the U.S. due to loss of electronic power-assisted steering (EPAS), and eventually fixed it via OTA updates.
Like the battery, the powertrain also sends back some health data: motor and inverter temperatures, current draw, fault codes, unusual vibrations, and when the system had to cut power to protect itself. That telemetry transmitted over cellular networks lets the manufacturer (or a fleet manager) spot issues early, such as a cooling problem or bearing wear, so they can push a calibration or schedule service before a breakdown.
Manufacturers also must rotate cryptographic keys and deploy urgent patches with minimal delay, and cellular connectivity provides a reliable channel for this purpose. Moreover, some manufacturers use it to enforce access to performance modes and apply regional limits via cloud checks that keep the powertrain configured as intended.
Real-Time Data for Smarter EV Power and Route Planning
Due to the specifics of charging, for EVs navigation and range are mission-critical, not just nice-to-have. Navigation systems need to fuse on-board data with live information on traffic speeds, weather and real-time charger metadata, including connector type and power rating. This way they are able to compute time- or cost-optimal routes selecting specific charge stops, rather than merely placing generic fuel pins on a map, like with an ICE car.
A stable and continuous Internet connection is vital to make sure the car can re-estimate range continuously as conditions change, or, for example, swap to a different site if a preferred charger goes offline, or trigger battery preconditioning (heating or cooling the pack to its optimal window to shorten charge time). Cellular connectivity is the only tool that can make all this orchestration reliably work in a moving car.
Connectivity Requirements for EVs
While individual features in EV may use cellular networks differently, there are certain connectivity requirements relevant for each of the use cases.
Coverage
Even though cellular connectivity is the best option for vehicles for its ubiquitous reach and global viability, each operator’s network inevitably has its weak spots. Sufficient coverage is one of the most critical requirements for all connected cars, which is not the simplest task with about 40 million miles of roadways encircling the Earth.
Solving coverage issues can be a serious challenge for OEMs that ship connected cars to multiple markets and charging infrastructure providers. Getting continuous coverage in every region would require contracting with several mobile operators and physically changing SIMs, which is often impossible due to logistics and technical reasons. With the emergence of eSIM and its remote provisioning capabilities the latter problem was somewhat alleviated, but ensuring that vehicles remain connected wherever they go and can recharge using a connected charge station remains a significant pain point.
Latency
Electric vehicles are critically dependent on networks’ latency. Delays in transmitting data may affect not only the infotainment system and result not just in poor user experience. Failure to perform over-the-air (OTA) drive control updates or interact with road safety infrastructure may lead to grave consequences. Besides, in any advanced driver assistance system latency in computing the car position or predicting velocity is critical to overall safety.
Cellular networks, in particular 5G and 5G Standalone, can provide better latency compared to other connectivity methods, but it should be noted that technically, latency depends on the architecture of your provider’s core network and may vary significantly.
Compliance
Embedded electronics and apps in electric vehicles enhance vehicle performance and efficiencies through data utilization, which requires compliance with stringent data governance practices. Depending on the country, there may be legislation on cybersecurity, data sovereignty, data privacy and industry-specific regulations.
The regulations-related issues may include the problem of having different SIMs for each country that manufacturers ship vehicles to and issues with data localization, as most countries have already enacted legislation on data sovereignty that requires connectivity localization. There can be three types of localization, including IP localization (IP traffic stays in the country), soft localization (IMSI from a local carrier), and full localization (local SIM profile and connectivity services from a local carrier).
Besides that, some restrictions are specific to the automotive industry, like eCall, a manual or automatic call that is generated from a vehicle to the nearest emergency-response network in case of a serious road accident, which is mandatory in some countries and may require a local SIM profile depending on location.
Webbing’s Solution for EV Connectivity
Webbing offers a connectivity solution that ensures global access to reliable and high-quality internet, with low latency and the best of class coverage. It provides secure and continuous internet connection, delivering a streamlined, centralized, and scalable means of deploying, controlling and monitoring electric cars.
Webbing’s connectivity solutions guarantee global coverage, and through our ecosystem of over 600 mobile operators worldwide, devices can roam seamlessly across multiple carriers’ networks in every region. It solves the problem of weak spots that any mobile network may have and ensures full coverage and continuous connectivity for all devices, even at remote locations.
Webbing’s distributed core network with local breakouts, multiple network solution, and data server redundancy can provide OEMs connectivity stability and low latency. It also allows for all types of localization – from IP traffic that remains in the country to designated profiles for emergency calls, so it’s easy to comply with local and regional connectivity regulation requirements.
Our eSIM solution ensures failover connectivity with the capability of using multiple mobile carrier profiles, easily changing carriers at any time with zero integration, and an option to fall back from a failing profile to a different profile without any need to communicate with a remote server. Webbing’s eSIM is aligned with the GSMA SGP.32 IoT eSIM specification, which means it will be fully compatible with the new standard when it becomes ubiquitous. More than 1 million WebbingCTRL eSIMs/SIMs have already been deployed globally since its release.
Webbing also offers a centralized way to manage eSIMs throughout their lifecycle, making deployments future-proof and eliminating the problem of ever-changing legislation on connectivity and data protection. With our solutions, OEMs can set up business rules that would allow connected electric vehicles to change the serving carrier automatically under specific conditions, such as location, loss of connectivity or even after a certain amount of time, which can be of use for cars shipped to some markets.
Our solutions help electric vehicle manufacturers overcome their connectivity problems and reduce time to market for global deployments, providing the benefits of roaming with multiple carrier options in every country, and seamless transition between carriers, while maintaining low rates and low latency on a global scale.
Webbing’s advanced eSIM technology and global IoT connectivity platform are already used by electric vehicle manufacturers. For example, Webbing connectivity delivers seamless, secure, and scalable connectivity in over 190 countries and territories to VinFast’s expanding fleet of smart EVs.
Reach out to learn how Webbing’s solutions can help you address any EV connectivity needs or ensure reliable cellular connectivity for EV charging stations.
