Two things can be true at the same time.
It is the case that the fossil fuel industry is feeding and coordinating a misinformation campaign about EVs, and the Republican Party and its messaging organs are amplifying that.
It is also true that consumers have legit concerns about the availability of charging stations. I’m sure that Secretary Buttigieg feels a sense of urgency about this, and I get it that moving something this large – and getting it right – takes time.
A third thing that is true is that China and its state supported auto makers have launched an EV price war that is shaking the global industry.
State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China:
The number of charging points for electric vehicles (EVs) in China grew at a rapid pace in 2022, new data showed Wednesday.
The country had 5.21 million charging points at the end of 2022, including over 2.59 million built in 2022, said Tian Yulong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
China Global Television Network – CGTN:
Nearly 2.46 million new private charging piles were added in 2023, bringing the total number to about 5.87 million by December, according to Cui.
China has been expanding its charging facilities for electric vehicles in recent years, placing the country in a leading position in its number of charging piles.
President Biden has long vowed to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the United States by 2030. Those stations, the White House said, would help Americans feel confident purchasing and driving electric cars, and help the country cut carbon pollution.
But now, more than two years after Congress allocated $7.5 billion to help build out those stations, only 7 EV charging stations are operational across four states. And as the Biden administration rolls out its new rules for emissions from cars and trucks — which will require a lot more electric cars and hybrids on the road — the sluggish build-out could slow the transition to electric cars.
“I think a lot of people who are watching this are getting concerned about the timeline,” said Alexander Laska, deputy director for transportation and innovation at the center-left think tank Third Way.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Biden signed in November 2021, included $7.5 billion for EV charging. Of that, $5 billion was allocated to individual states in so-called “formula funding” to build a network of fast chargers along major highways in the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, or NEVI, program.
But after two years, that program has only delivered seven open charging stations with a total of 38 spots where drivers can charge their vehicles,according to a spokesperson for the Federal Highway Administration. (The funding should be enough to build up to 20,000 charging spots or around 5,000 stations, according to analysis from the EV policy analyst group Atlas Public Policy.) Stations are open in Hawaii, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania and under construction in four other states.
Twelve additional states have awarded contracts for constructing the charging stations; 17 states have not yet issued proposals.
Last month, Republican members of the House of Representatives sent a letterto the Biden administration with a list of questions about the slow rollout of EV chargers.
“We have significant concerns that under your efforts American taxpayer dollars are being woefully mismanaged,” wrote Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.). “The problems with these programs continue to grow — delays in the delivery of chargers, concerns from States about labor contracting requirements and minimum operating standards for chargers,” the letter continued.
Nick Nigro, founder of Atlas Public Policy, said that some of the delays are to be expected. “State transportation agencies are the recipients of the money,” he said. “Nearly all of them had no experience deploying electric vehicle charging stations before this law was enacted.”
Nigro says that the process — states have to submit plans to the Biden administration for approval, solicit bids on the work, and then award funds — has taken much of the first two years since the funding was approved. “I expect it to go much faster in 2024,” he added.
“We are building a national EV charging network from scratch, and we want to get it right,” a spokesperson for the Federal Highway Administration said in an email. “After developing program guidance and partnering with states to guide implementation plans, we are hitting our stride as states move quickly to bring NEVI stations online.”
A White House spokesperson said in an email that the nation’s public charging network has grown substantially since Biden entered office, and that the administration expects the nation to reach the goal of 500,000 charging stations by 2026.
LOL ~ Nobody’s ever gonna’ buy a cell phone
Back in the 1980s there was a general consensus about the size of the US car market in 2000 (10 million, I think?). And, in fact, they were pretty much right about that. The problem was that most of them forecast that they would have a greater slice of that market than they got, so there was a glut of unsold cars at the turn of the century.
I still think there’s an investment problem for people who are bullish on EVs: Most of the potential EV makers also make ICE vehicles, so even if they do well on EVs, the flagging combustion sales would affect their stock price, too.