You can’t drive more than a few miles in most parts of America without running into a gas station, but electric car chargers are much less numerous. A new initiative from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) might help change that. The administration has allocated $5 billion to fund the deployment of electric car chargers, and now the project is getting underway with approvals in all 50 states, plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico.
The money comes from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which was passed as a bipartisan infrastructure bill in early 2022. Now that the DOT has laid the groundwork, states have access to the 2022 and 2023 funding, totaling $1.5 billion. The full $5 billion fund is set to last five years, but 10 percent of the NEVI funds will be set aside each year for the Secretary of Transportation to direct as they see fit to fill the gaps in state-developed charging stations.
These federally funded chargers will be built mainly along highways with the goal of blanketing 75,000 miles of America’s roadways with EV charging capacity. This comes at a time when EV ownership is trending upward, though it still hovers in the single digits in most states. California leads the way with a 15.1 percent EV share in 2022, but the nationwide share is just one percent.
Home chargers like Ford’s 48-amp / 240 volt Level 2 charger are common, but a network of public chargers could save people the hassle and expense of installing their own at home.
The share of electric vehicles will undoubtedly keep moving upward, especially in states that plan to phase out gasoline vehicles in the 2030s. Nationwide, the administration is aiming for 50 percent of car sales to be electric by 2030. We can’t wait for people to buy more EVs before we start expanding infrastructure — consumers regularly cite the lack of charging stations as a barrier to purchasing an EV, hence the NEVI funding. Currently, many EV owners have gone to the expense of installing high-wattage charging in their homes to keep the car charged. However, some research suggests that charging at home in the evening and at night is the wrong way to plan for the future.
Transportation remains the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the US. Reducing the number of gasoline-powered cars on the road is seen as key to reducing emissions. The current administration has set an ambitious goal of having the number of gas-powered vehicles be 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. That’s going to be tough even with an EV charger every few miles.
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