The President Joe Biden Administration wants to build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers along U.S. highways and communities as part of its infrastructure plan as well as to complement the greatest transition in automotive industry history.
The Department of Transportation (DoT) is proposing new standards to make EV charging more convenient and affordable. Without standards, the DoT said chargers could be less reliable, may not work for all cars or lack common payment methods.
The standards follow Biden’s plans to set aside $5 billion for states to build the network of charging stations and provides an additional $2.5 billion for local grants to support charging stations in rural areas and disadvantaged communities.
These standards will allow any American to use the national EV network regardless of make or model of EV or the state where the charging takes place.
Automotive OEMs have pledged to phase out sales of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles in favor of electrified models by 2030 and eventually sell all-EVs by 2040. This includes American OEM Ford and General Motors, which are both investing tens of billions of dollars to expand EVs, charging, battery plants and more as it transitions.
Foreign carmakers are also investing in new U.S. battery plants and other manufacturing factories such as Hyundai investing $10 billion in the U.S. and Stellantis and Samsung building a $2.5 billion joint venture EV battery factory in Kokomo, Indiana.
The Biden Administration has taken the following actions to promote EV sales and charging:
- Secured $7.5 billion for EV charging infrastructure and more than $7 billion for critical minerals supply chains needed for batteries, components and more.
- Worked with automakers to target 50% of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric.
- Triggered more than $100 billion from private companies to make EVs and parts in America to create jobs for autoworkers.
- Purchased 100% zero-emission light-duty vehicles by 2027 and all vehicles by 2035.
Networks expanding
Meanwhile, private companies are expanding their own networks as the need for more EV charging stations will be necessary to handle the expected surge in demand due to the transition to electrified models.
This includes Electrify America, which saw a fivefold increase in EV charging sessions in 2021 and has plans to add more than 1,800 total charging stations with more than 10,000 chargers in North America by 2026.
EV charging is also being expanded to more retail outlets including Starbucks, Walgreens and Bridgestone stores.
Battery shortage looming
This could all change in the coming years as a looming EV battery and raw materials shortage may be coming.
Strong demand for lithium batteries will not be able to meet the upcoming demand as the entire automotive industry transitions at once.
Experts are expecting a shortage of EV batteries to happen during the 2024 and 2025 time frame, followed by a raw materials shortage for these batteries. This will lead to a slowdown in the availability and adoption of EVs by 2027-2028.