The Biden administration is awarding $623 million in grants to help build an electric vehicle charging network across the nation. Grants being announced Thursday will fund 47 EV charging stations and related projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including 7,500 EV charging ports, officials said.
Quick Read
- Significant Funding for EV Charging Network: The Biden administration is awarding $623 million in grants to build an electric vehicle (EV) charging network across the U.S.
- Numerous Charging Stations and Ports: The grants will fund 47 EV charging stations and related projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including 7,500 EV charging ports.
- Goal of Expanding EV Infrastructure: This initiative is part of a larger effort to create a national network of 500,000 publicly available chargers by 2030, as outlined in the 2021 infrastructure law.
- Environmental and Economic Benefits: The project aims to reduce dependence on gasoline-powered vehicles and create jobs in charger manufacturing, installation, and maintenance.
- Current State of EV Infrastructure: Only a few states have opened charging stations under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, with others in progress.
- Growth in EV Sales and Charging Ports: Since 2021, EV sales have quadrupled, exceeding 1 million last year, and the number of publicly available charging ports has grown by nearly 70%.
- Addressing “Range Anxiety”: The availability of chargers is seen as crucial to encouraging more consumers to purchase EVs and to alleviate concerns about charging station scarcity.
- Focus on Community and Highway Projects: The grants include funding for community projects and highway corridors, enhancing charging infrastructure in various locations.
- Diverse Project Locations: The projects are spread across urban, rural, and disadvantaged communities, including Native American Tribes and historically Black schools.
- Hydrogen Fueling Stations: Part of the funding will also go towards building hydrogen fueling stations for medium- and heavy-duty freight trucks in Texas and California.
- EVs Approaching Cost Parity with Gasoline Cars: The administration highlights the decreasing price gap between EVs and gasoline-powered cars, predicting that EVs will soon be cheaper on average.
- Comprehensive Approach to EV Adoption: The initiative reflects a broad strategy to promote EV adoption, addressing both infrastructure needs and consumer concerns.
The Associated Press has the story:
Biden awards $623M to states, local Govt & tribes to build EV charging network
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Biden administration is awarding $623 million in grants to help build an electric vehicle charging network across the nation. Grants being announced Thursday will fund 47 EV charging stations and related projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including 7,500 EV charging ports, officials said.
“America led the arrival of the automotive era, and now we have a chance to lead the world in the EV revolution — securing jobs, savings and benefits for Americans in the process,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The new funding “will help ensure that EV chargers are accessible, reliable and convenient for American drivers, while creating jobs in charger manufacturing, installation and maintenance for American workers.”
Congress approved $7.5 billion in the 2021 infrastructure law to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of building out a national network of 500,000 publicly available chargers by 2030. The charging ports are a key part of Biden’s effort to encourage drivers to move away from gasoline-powered cars and trucks that contribute to global warming.
But progress on the network has been slow. Ohio and New York are the only states that have opened charging stations under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program. Several other states, including Pennsylvania and Maine, have broken ground on federally funded projects and are expected to open stations early this year. A total of 28 states, plus Puerto Rico, have either awarded contracts to build chargers or have accepted bids to do so.
Since Biden took office in 2021, EV sales have more than quadrupled and reached more than 1 million last year. The number of publicly available charging ports has grown by nearly 70% to 168,426, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said.
That number is about one-third of the way to Biden’s goal, with six years remaining.
“We are on an accelerating trajectory to meet and exceed the president’s goal to hit 500,000 chargers and build that nationwide backbone,” Zaidi told reporters Wednesday.
Widespread availability of chargers is crucial to meet another Biden administration goal: ensuring that EVs make up half of all new car sales by 2030. Along with cost, “range anxiety” about a lack of available charging stations is a key impediment to buying an EV. About 80% of respondents cited concerns about a lack of charging stations as a reason not to purchase an electric vehicle, according to an April survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.
Seven in 10 respondents said they would not purchase an EV because they take too long to charge and the battery technology isn’t ready.
Buttigieg and other administration officials brushed those concerns aside and said the future of auto travel is electric.
“We’re at a moment now where the electric vehicle revolution isn’t coming. It is very much here,” Buttigieg told reporters. EV sales now represent about 9% of all passenger vehicle sales, Buttigieg said — a huge increase since Biden took office. He cited a new study showing that EV’s cost just 4% more than gasoline-powered cars.
“There’s been a really remarkable drop in the prices that consumers face for EVs. And we believe we are fast approaching the period when EVs, on average, will be cheaper than internal combustion vehicles,” Buttigieg said.
The grants announced Thursday include $311 million to 36 “community” projects, including two Native American Tribes in Alaska and Arizona. The projects will boost EV charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure in urban and rural communities, including at high-use locations such as schools, parks, libraries and apartment buildings.
Another $312 million in funding will go to 11 highway “corridors” along roadways designated as Alternative Fuel Corridors. The projects include $19.6 million for publicly accessible EV charging facility in Riverside County California, located midway between Los Angeles and Phoenix on the I-10 corridor. The project includes installation of six large chargers for heavy-duty vehicles and 30 fast chargers for light-duty vehicles; solar and battery energy storage systems; and amenities such as rest areas.
A pollution district in San Joaquin Valley, California will receive $56 million to build two state-of-the-art truck charging sites in Taft and Gustine, California, to support two of the nation’s busiest freight corridors along I-5. The sites will feature 90 fast chargers for passenger vehicles, 85 fast chargers for medium to heavy-duty EVs and 17 large chargers. The sites will also enhance grid stability with 63 acres of solar panels and battery electric storage systems.
About $70 million will go to the North Central Texas Council of Governments to build up to five hydrogen fueling stations for medium- and heavy-duty freight trucks in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. The project will help create a “hydrogen fueling corridor” from southern California to Texas.
Another $15 million will go to the Maryland Clean Energy Center to build 87 EV charging stations in urban, suburban and low- and moderate-income communities across the state. Proposed sites include Coppin State University, a historically Black school in Baltimore, and 34 disadvantaged communities with multi-family housing.
