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Electric vehicle (EV) owners may love their cars, but they don’t always like the state of the infrastructure needed to keep those sustainable vehicles charged up and on the road. In the San Francisco Bay area alone—a region where one would assume there are a high number of EVs and an equally ample number of public chargers—just over 70% of the city’s 657 public fast chargers were in working order, according to Autoweek.
“EV owners continue to be highly satisfied with their vehicles, while they are frustrated with the state of our public charging infrastructure,” the publication stated. Recounting the frustrations of one EV owner, Autoweek said that the “issue of broken EV chargers is underreported, and not realized by people unless they are the EV drivers who depend on them.”
Those EV drivers may soon get some relief and better support while they’re on the road. In September, the Biden-Harris Administration approved Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans for all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
Part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the program gives all states access to all FY22 and FY23 NEVI formula funding, totaling more than $1.5 billion to help build EV chargers covering approximately 75,000 miles of highway across the country. The NEVI program will make a total of $5 billion available over the next five years, and will be used to build out a convenient, reliable and affordable national EV charging network.
“America led the original automotive revolution in the last century, and today, thanks to the historic resources in the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re poised to lead in the 21st century with electric vehicles,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a press release. “We have approved plans for all 50 States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia to help ensure that Americans in every part of the country – from the largest cities to the most rural communities—can be positioned to unlock the savings and benefits of electric vehicles.”
Open to the Public
Pure EVs have no tailpipe and, as such, produce no carbon dioxide emissions when they’re on the road, thus considerably reducing air pollution. “A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculated both the carbon dioxide emissions and full lifetime cost, including purchase price, maintenance and fuel, for nearly every new car model on the market,” Geospatial World points out. “They found electric cars were easily more climate friendly and over time less expensive than gas burning ones.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, this new round of funding will go to projects that are directly related to the charging of electric vehicles. And, they’re only applicable for EV charging infrastructure that is either open to the public or made available to authorized commercial motor vehicle operators from multiple companies. States and districts will be able to use the funding to:
- Upgrade existing and construct new EV charging infrastructure
- Cover the operating and maintenance costs of these charging stations
- Install onsite electrical service equipment
- Improve community and stakeholder engagement
- Manage workforce development activities
- Develop EV charging station signage
- Support data sharing activities, mapping analysis and related activities
“With this greenlight, states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico can ramp up their work to build out EV charging networks that will make driving an EV more convenient and affordable for their residents and will serve as the backbone of our national EV charging network,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack in the press release. “The Federal Highway Administration will continue to work closely with states as we implement this historic funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to bring President Biden’s vision for a national electric vehicle network to communities across America.”
