Infrastructure Bill (NEVI) Stations Grind Slowly Toward Construction
At the end of 2021, there was cause for celebration for EV owners. President Biden had just signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill into law, authorizing federal spending to build hundreds of thousands of new charging stations. Since that time, the charging landscape has changed quite a bit, especially with the increased adoption of Tesla’s NACS charging plug by more manufacturers, leading to a lot of debate over the bill and subsequent regulatory actions. However, regardless of what plugs get built, the program is still going to have a serious impact on EV adoption in the coming years.
While the overall number of stations to be built is approximately 500,000, the actual number of DC fast charging stations will likely be much lower, with the rest being local medium-speed (25-50 kW Level 3) and Level 2 (240V) stations. But, the plan is to put the faster highway-speed Level 3 stations where they’ll really count, with states all required to plan for stations every 50 miles along major highways (with some exceptions for unusual circumstances). And the key stations along interstate highways are supposed to come first!
The more optimistic among us probably thought this was going to be a fairly quick process, at least to getting the interstate stations put in. With billions of dollars of money going toward this process, it’s just a matter of hiring contractors to put some steel in the ground, right? But, those of us with much experience dealing with government probably knew that presidential ink on congressional paper was just the beginning of a years’ long process that would eventually lead to charging stations.
So, after the better part of two years, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the gears of state haven’t turned very close to putting stations in the ground. I’m not one of those anarcho-capitalists who thinks government can get nothing done, but I’m a realist and know that government work doesn’t come cheap or fast unless you get crosswise with the tax collectors or become a target in one of the many revenue schemes out there. But, I digress.
Tracking the progress of these Infrastructure Bill (aka NEVI) stations and their planning is no easy task. The federal government is providing the funding, but like many transportation projects, it is leaving the actual implementation up to the states, territories, and the District of Columbia (along with other players that may be involved, like tribes, counties, and municipalities). Knowing what all of these players (more than 50 of them just at the state/territory level) are doing means looking at a lot of data, often in verbose PDF format.
Luckily, I found a pretty cool resource: EVStation.com’s NEVI State/Territory tracker. Apparently there’s a larger set of data you can get for a fee, but what it’s giving out for free is still very useful. There is a list of states that have either done station grants/contracts or are in the process of doing so. This give us a peek into the process and how it’s going.
The bad news is that only 7 states have been listed so far. It appears that Ohio is ahead of the other 6 states working on this, with its process closed and checks going out next month (July). Everyone else is going to be giving funding to applicants in August, September, or some future date that hasn’t been announced yet.
Where Did The Money For This Year’s New Stations Come From?
If you’re following the proliferation of charging infrastructure, you’ve probably seen a lot of stations pop up on charging maps like Plugshare this year. Some have been built, but many are under construction or awaiting a power connection from local utilities. By the end of 2023, the charging situation will be a lot better, especially for EVs that rely on CCS and CHAdeMO.
It’s commonly misunderstood that these stations are from the Infrastructure Bill. I see it all the time on Plugshare, Reddit groups, and Twitter, and it’s easy to assume that a 2021 spending bill should provide fruit this year. But, we have an even older “friend” to thank: Dieselgate.
As I pointed out in January, funding from the 2016 Dieselgate settlement (Volkswagen’s punishment for emissions cheating) are still being used to install charging stations in 2023. Once again, the wheels of government turn slowly, and it’s taken all of these years to get to some of these stations going in. Heck, we’re probably still going to see more Dieselgate stations for years to come as things get through the process, in the ground, and activated.
This isn’t just for CCS and CHAdeMO stations, either. Some of these funds have been used to get Tesla some funding via Magic Dock, too. So, this old tide is still lifting all boats.
Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
So, The Best Is Yet To Come
If the remaining funds from an old source have already done so much this year to expand EV charging for everybody, it’s pretty clear that the much larger NEVI program is going to expand it that much more. Most of the Dieselgate stations I’ve seen in recent months and planned for later this year are for one or two stalls, often at fairly low speeds.
Don’t get me wrong: these stations are the lifeblood of future EV adoption and growth in the coming years for many areas. Places like eastern New Mexico and the Four Corners area have been seriously improved with Dieselgate funds, but the growth of EV ownership in the cities, among travelers, and even among locals in rural areas and small towns will quickly overrun these limited resources.
Starting with interstates, followed by smaller US highways, followed by smaller state roads, we’ll see a lot more capacity than we’ve seen so far. So, what we’re seeing this year might not be actual NEVI stations, but they’re just a taste of what we’ll be seeing later this year and in subsequent years as the big show actually gets started.
More EV growth will eventually overrun 4 stalls every 50 miles, but it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem to get to the point where that happens. DC fast charging is only used for around 10% of all traveling (assuming home charging is available), but nobody wants to buy 90% of a car. The process of building all of this out may be going slowly, but it’s an essential step on the way to the EV future.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
