EV Charging Stations Still Not Adequate

After promising an extensive network of electric vehicle charging stations across the nation, the White House has largely missed on its promises.

A new study conducted by the White House found that EV charging stations in the country number at 192,000, with an increase of 9,000 ports in Q2. This is down from the 13,000 new ports in Q1.

Most of these ports were constructed through privately owned companies as well as the federal initiative for electric vehicle transformations, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) plan. Much of the funding for this program was obtained from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021, which still provides funding to electric vehicle charging stations across America to this day. This includes $7.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to EV integration.

Even worse for the White House, it was found that since 2021, only seven publicly funded charging stations were built. This is extremely underwhelming, with the bulk of federal funding going toward commercialized, privately-owned charging stations owned by big EV companies such as Tesla.

Many Americans are still feeling the effects of the nation's lacking EV charging network. A poll conducted in late 2023 found that 77% of respondents have the concern of the lack of charging stations which is preventing them from purchasing an electric vehicle.

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has made it a priority to continue developing the EV charging network using additional federal funding, similar to Biden's plan.