White House unveils $5 billion plan to blanket US highways with new electric-car chargers

• The US government is starting to make good on Joe Biden’s promise for 500,000 public electric-car chargers. 
• The government will give nearly $5 billion to help states build out their charging infrastructure. 
• The plan aims to beef up charging access along interstate highways. 

Right now one of the glaring reasons not to own an electric car is the charging.

Gas stations are a dime a dozen, but charging plugs in much of the country are few and far between. That may not be the case for long if President Joe Biden’s plan comes to fruition.

The US Departments of Energy and Transportation announced on Thursday that they will dole out nearly $5 billion over the next five years to help states beef up access to electric-vehicle charging. It’s part of the White House’s broader goal to curb climate change and get more Americans into zero-emission vehicles. 

Biden aims for the US to have 500,000 public EV chargers by 2030, roughly 400,000 more plugs than are available today. 

We’ve known funding for EV charging was coming since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November, but the administration on Thursday shared new details about how the money will be spent. 

States will have until August to submit proposals for how they’d spend their share based on guidance published on Thursday. Initially, states will need to focus on improving charging along “Alternative Fuel Corridors,” interstate highways that, the DOT said, will serve as “the spine of the new national EV charging network.” The administration expects that states will leave installation and upkeep to private companies.  

Once a state’s corridors are “fully built out,” it will be able to apply for funding to place charging stations in other public places like transit stations, schools, and parking lots. The administration will consider a highway built out once it has a series of charging stations no more than 50 miles apart. Stations will need to have at least four DC fast charging plugs capable of providing 150 kilowatts of energy each. 

A fast-charging plug of that caliber should be able to top up a modern electric car in approximately 30-45 minutes, much more quickly than a home-charging installation. Each state’s plans will also need to consider how to equitably distribute charging infrastructure. In the first year of the program, $615 million will be available to states. 

The investment comes as the global auto industry, incentivized by tightening emissions regulations and the blockbuster success of Tesla, works feverishly to transition toward building and selling zero-emission vehicles. 

Car companies plan to unleash a flood of new electric models onto the market in the coming years as electric cars — once playthings for the wealthy — become cheaper and enter the mainstream. Ford’s F-150 Lightning, a $40,000 electric pickup truck, is set to hit streets this spring. Chevrolet will start selling a $30,000 battery-powered SUV next year. 

Still, a lack of public charging stations is keeping people from giving up their gas-drinking vehicles. A recent University of California Davis survey of EV owners in California found that one in five switched back to a gas car because charging was too much of a hassle. In 2021, EV market share in the US grew to 3.5%. 

Officials would not offer specifics about how many chargers the $5 billion program would yield or when the first locations would open to the public. They called it a down payment on the 500,000-charger goal. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also provides $2.5 billion for a separate grant program that addresses EV charging in rural and disadvantaged communities, along with poor-air-quality areas.