#78 – Inside Our Industry – White House Releases Plan to Grow US’s EV Charging Network

We try our very best to remain politically neutral. We do, however, want to share some recent news out of Washington, D.C., regarding the push for electric vehicles (EVs). A reliable national charging network is key if EV sale shares are targeted to raise to 50 percent of auto sales in the U.S. by 2030. Below are excerpts from a report on electrek.co, a news site that focuses on tracking, analyzing, and breaking news on the transition from fossil-fuel transport to electric transport.

White House releases plan to grow US’s EV charging network to 500,000 stations
Fred Lambert, electrek.co, Dec. 13, 2021

The White House released today its plan on spending the $7.5 billion on electric vehicle infrastructure with the goal to grow the US’s national EV charging network to 500,000 charging stations.

As of now, the actions are still mainly about creating a framework to distribute the money – most of which will be for states to spend.

But the overall goal is to take the number of EV charging stations in the US from 100,000 to 500,000.

In short, the government is now talking to EV charging stakeholders to best understand their needs and make sure that the money will be cycled through the US to not only deploy the stations, but also build them here.

Here are all the specific actions that the White House announced today:

• Establishing a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation: The Joint Office will ensure the agencies (DOT and DOE) can work together to implement the EV charging network and other electrification provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
• Gathering Diverse Stakeholder Input:  DOT and DOE will…launch a new Advisory Committee on Electric Vehicles and is targeting to appoint members to this committee by the end of the first quarter of 2022. To gather input from the widest possible array of stakeholders, DOT has a new EV Charging Request for Information, where stakeholders can submit their priorities for Federal standards and guidance for consideration.
• Preparing to Issue Guidance and Standards for States and Cities: No later than February 11, DOT will publish guidance for states and cities to strategically deploy EV charging stations to build out a national network along our nation’s highway system. It will focus on the needs of disadvantaged and rural communities, catalyze further private investment in EV charging, and ensure we’re smartly connecting to our electric grid.
• Requesting Information from Domestic Manufacturers:  To ensure this network of EV chargers can be built in America, by America, DOT and DOE are working directly with manufacturers, automakers and labor to understand what domestic sourcing is available today, and what may be possible in the future.
• New Solicitation for Alternative Fuel Corridors: Today, the DOT is announcing a forthcoming solicitation for the 6th round of Alternative Fuel Corridors designations. This program, created by the FAST Act in 2015, recognizes highway segments that have infrastructure plans to allow travel on alternative fuels, including electricity. FHWA will establish a recurring process to regularly update these corridors.

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