The President of the United States, Joe Biden, made the move to electric vehicles one of the first focuses of his government. Days after his inauguration, he promised to replace hundreds of thousands of federal civilian vehicles with electric versions. On Tuesday, Biden held a virtual meeting with CEOs of companies that are building charging infrastructure. The government has set a goal to build more than 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations by 2030.
Also on Tuesday, a coalition of six electric utilities announced a new initiative that will help Biden achieve its goal. The companies are planning to build a “continuous network of charging stations” in and around the southern United States. The group plans to build shippers close to major highways in all southern states, extending to western Texas and north to Indiana, Ohio and Virginia.
American Electric Power
This is not a joint venture. Each utility will build and operate its own charging stations. But the goal is to make it look like a unified network to the customer.
The initiative is important because the limited number of fast chargers is an impediment to wider adoption of electric vehicles. It is inherently more time consuming to recharge an electric vehicle than it is to refill the gas tank of a conventional car. The problem is compounded if electric vehicle owners need to deviate from the path to reach a charging station.
As more chargers are built, EV owners will find it easier to find charging stations near useful amenities, such as supermarkets, restaurants or playgrounds, allowing them to do something useful or fun while their cars recharge.
In 2016, we spoke with Pat Romano, CEO of the ChargePoint charging network, which licenses its charging technology to third parties.
“Most people are not looking at it as a profit center, it is a convenience or a complement to something else,” said Romano. “If you look at liquid fuel, it has never been a profitable industry from a retail perspective, it is a convenience for a convenience store. So if you are not generating electricity, why do you think you will make money selling it? “
The flip side of this is that if you we are in the electricity generation business, it may be easier to make the economy work. Electric utilities can also offer benefits such as increased reliability and flexible pricing.
Another way to make the economy work is for automakers to build their own charging stations, making their cars more attractive. Tesla did this with its well-known SuperCharger network. Last year, GM announced an initiative to build 2,700 charging stations in five years.