WHITE HOUSE RELEASES $5 BILLION PLAN FOR EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

States will receive federal money to install EV chargers along major highways and interstates.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Biden Administration has released its plan to fund electric vehicle charging infrastructure, focusing on interstate highways first, and then rural areas at a later date, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The administration said the goal of the plan is to give Americans the ability to access public EV charging as easily as it is to find a gas station.

The administration will award nearly $5 billion over five years to states so they can build EV chargers along highway corridors. The money was part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed last November and will be distributed among all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, with the biggest allocations to California, Florida and Texas.

The plan says that states must install an EV charger every 50 miles and must be located no more than one mile off of high-use corridors, mostly interstates. The chargers must have at least 600 kilowatts of total capacity, with ports for at least four cars that can simultaneously deliver at least 150 kilowatts each, says the Journal. The chargers also need to be accessible to the general public or to fleet operators from more than one company.

States need to submit their plans on how they will use the funding and how they will install the chargers by August, and federal officials will approve or deny states’ plans by the end of September, reports the New York Times.

“We’re not going to dictate to the states how to do this, but we do need to make sure that there are meet basic standards,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at a press conference.

The infrastructure bill included $7.5 billion for EV charging buildout, and the remaining $2.5 billion will be used to install chargers in rural areas with little access to charging, with those plans being released later this year.

The administration expects states to contract with private companies to purchase and install the chargers, as well as operate the stations, and the federal money can support only 80% of the cost of these stations.

Earlier this week, President Biden touted an Australian EV charger company for agreeing to build a manufacturing facility in Tennessee, saying the plant will “have a ripple effect” far beyond the state. The White House and the company, Tritium, says that the new plant will produce up to 30,000 electric vehicle chargers per year.

Shortly after inauguration, President Biden announced his goal to have half of all new cars sold in the U.S. be electric or hybrid vehicles.

Read more about electricity demand charges and what they mean for retailers’ ability to turn a profit from EV charging in the September 2021 issue of NACS Magazine.

The NACS EV Charging Calculator was created to allow retailers to assess the cost and profitability of offering EV chargers at their sites. The calculator focuses on what retailer utility costs associated with EV recharging are and what the corresponding revenue must be to recover those costs after allowing for potential ancillary in-store visits and purchase profitability.

A recent Convenience Matters podcast episode discusses how EVs are the future, and another episode explains how convenience retailers can attract and retain EV customers.

At the 2021 NACS Show, three education sessions focused on the opportunity that EVs bring to retailers. Receive six-month access to this primer on electric vehicles for $49.

To learn more about the Biden Administration’s previous steps and actions to advance EV infrastructure and adoption, read “Energy Moves” in Fuels Market News Magazine’s Fall 2021 Issue.