In a report, the White House released new figures on the nation’s EV charging network buildout, a small positive step in what has often been a weak spot for EV adoption.
In there Q3 updateThe Joint Bureau of Energy and Transportation revealed there are more than 192,000 public Level 2 or DC charging ports in the United States, up about 9,000 from Q2, though down from the 13,000 ports added in Q2.
The country’s charging infrastructure is largely privately owned, although the government, through its National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, is funding this buildout as well as state initiatives to increase public ownership. charger.
President Joe Biden has invested enormous political capital in the US electric vehicle transition, and some of that is Construction $7.5 billion of the nation’s EV charging infrastructure. Using public and private funding, the White House is aiming for 500,000 new chargers by the end of the decade through the NEVI program.
The nation’s electric charging network has doubled in size since the Biden-Harris administration took office, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation said.
In March, the White House faced some criticism when Only seven publicly funded charging stations revealed has been built with 38 ports available for charging since the program began in 2021. The White House countered that it needed time to “finalize the program” and that construction would accelerate as 2024 progressed.
“There are currently 69 NEVI-funded public charging stations operating at 17 stations in eight states, more than doubling the number of NEVI stations in operation from the previous quarter. A total of 40 states have announced at least their first round of offerings,” said the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation at Quarter 3 “Of these states, 29 have issued conditional awards or agreements for more than 2,800 fast-charging ports at more than 700 charging station locations,” the report said.
Experts believe the delay It also depends on state and local governments, which, despite NEVI funding, have little or no experience building charging infrastructure.
Still, building and dramatically increasing the number of public chargers is critical to the administration’s goal of electrifying the nation’s vehicle fleet. The White House new vehicle emissions targetsAlthough not as severe as initially expected, more electric vehicles will still be needed on the road by 2030.
And a big part of that is charging. Yahoo Finance-Ipsos Poll conducted in late 2023 found that the main reason Americans are hesitant to buy an electric vehicle is the lack of charging stations or home charging, with 77% of respondents citing that concern.
“I’m often asked if there’s a magic number for how many public charging stations we need in the U.S.,” Brent Gruber, managing director of JD Power’s EV Practice, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s a very difficult question to answer because having an adequate charging infrastructure depends a lot on the number of EVs on the road, access to home charging, use cases, etc.” “Instead, I look at the number of charging ports by how well they meet the needs of EV owners with their availability.”
Gruber notes that while the number of charging ports in the U.S. is growing, satisfaction with charger availability is uneven. J.D. Power’s latest survey found that satisfaction with DC fast charger availability increased 20 points year over year (from 673 to 693), while availability of the much more common and less powerful Level 2 chargers decreased (from 593 to 583).
“With satisfaction levels as low as they are today in both categories, we are definitely not where we need to be,” Gruber said.
John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an auto trade group, echoed that sentiment earlier this year, noting that the administration’s electric vehicle adoption plans were under threat.
“America’s electric vehicle transition goes hand in hand with reliable electric vehicle charging infrastructure. You can’t have one without the other,” he said. “To make it easier for Americans to use electric vehicles, we must first ensure they have access — no matter their ZIP code — to reliable and widespread public charging.”
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and above Instagram.
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