EV charging infrastructure

EV charging infrastructure isn’t just for road trippers

Although there’s been a whole lot of pessimism recently, electric vehicle sales continue to grow, even if it is less quickly than many hoped. That’s true in the commercial vehicle space as well—according to Cox Automotive, 87 percent of vehicle fleet operators expect to add EVs in the next five years, and more than half thought they were likely to buy EVs this year. And where and when to plug those EVs in to charge is a potential headache for fleet operators.

The good news is that charging infrastructure really is growing. It doesn’t always feel that way—the $7.5 billion allocated under the Inflation Reduction Act for charging infrastructure has to be disbursed via state departments of transportation, so the process there has been anything but rapid. But according to the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, the total number of public charging plugs has doubled since 2020, to more than 144,000 level 2 plugs and closing in on 49,000 DC fast charger plugs.

There are ways to throw off a planned timeline when building out a station with multiple chargers. Obviously you need the funds to pay for it all—if these are to come from grants like the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, that had to wait for the states to each develop their own funding plans, then open for submissions, and so on, before even approving a project, for example.

Permitting can add plenty more delays, and then there’s the need to run sufficient power to a site. “The challenge is getting the power to the points that it needs to be used. The good thing is that the rollout for EV is not happening overnight, and it’s staged. So that does give some opportunity,” said Amber Putignano, market development leader at ABB Electrification.

For example, ABB has been working with Greenlane, a $650 million joint venture between Daimler Truck North America, NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock, as it builds out a series of charging corridors along freight routes, starting with a 280-mile (450 km) stretch of I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Feds award $521 million in EV charger funds, but rollout remains slow

Cars, EV charging infrastructure, inflation reduction act of 2022, NEVI / Rejus Almole / August 27, 2024

got the plug? —

The awards are part of a $7.5 billion program for EV charger infrastructure.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Aug 27, 2024 6: 27 pm UTC

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The federal government awarded another $521 million in EV charger funding today. It’s the latest tranche of money to be awarded from a $7.5 billion program authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to build out fast chargers along interstate highways as well as bringing charging infrastructure to underserved communities.

$321 million from today’s announcement will be spent on 41 different projects across the country—these projects are a mix of level 2 AC chargers as well as DC fast chargers. The remaining $200 million will continue funding DC fast chargers along designated highway corridors.

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which administers the federal funding, called out a $15 million project to install chargers at 53 sites in Milwaukee and a $3.9 million project to install publicly accessible chargers on the Sioux Reservation in North Dakota as examples of the latest awards.

“Today’s investments in public community charging fill crucial gaps and provide the foundation for a zero-emission future where everyone can choose to ride or drive electric for greater individual convenience and reduced fueling costs, as well as cleaner air and lower healthcare costs for all Americans,” said Gabe Kline, executive director of the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.

The Biden administration set a goal of 500,000 EV chargers nationwide by 2030. The Joint Office’s latest data shows more than 189,000 chargers across the country, although fewer than 44,000 of these were DC fast chargers.

But it cites real improvements over the past few years—56 percent of the most heavily trafficked highways have a fast charger every 50 miles, up from 38 percent in January 2021. And in June, it says an additional 3,000 charging ports were added to the national network. Other funding has gone to repairing or upgrading existing infrastructure, starting with a currently inoperable site in Washington, DC.

At the same time, progress has not been especially rapid for the highway charger NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) program. NEVI funds are administered by the states, similar to the way they manage federal highway funding, and the extra layers of bureaucracy have meant that the first NEVI-funded charging station—located in Ohio—only became operational in mid-December 2023.

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