Biden Paving Way for Electric Vehicles

 I hear at work how terrible Biden is as President, it is as if he has done nothing. Then I read Coming Soon: A National Charging Network for Electric Vehicles:

To highlight the importance of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the press has focused on projects like the reconstruction of the ramshackle Brent Spence Bridge connecting Covington, Kentucky with Cincinnati, Ohio, mostly because Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell provided a rare joint media appearance there to announce the project. However, the funds from the infrastructure law that can be truly transformative are those earmarked for the charging-station network. That’s because the creation of such an electric infrastructure, with 500,000 stations in rural and urban locations from coast to coast, will likely usher in nothing short of a revolution in transportation in America.

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At present, there are 1.7 million EVs on the road in the country, but, with these new funding efforts, some analysts project that by the end of the decade that number could climb to over 26 million, representing approximately 10 percent of the nation’s 259-million light vehicle fleet. While the administration’s goal—EVs comprising half of new car sales by 2030—is ambitious, Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, believes it is “doable,” mostly because a remaining concern about EVs voiced by consumers is the ability to travel moderate to long distances without running into trouble finding places to recharge their cars. Charging stations at home allow travel to and from work with ease, but what happens if one makes a trip of several hundred miles, like an interstate business trip or a family vacation? A nationwide charging-station network, according to Hirs, “will solve the mobility problem.”

Automakers appear to understand that reality. Ford Motor Company has boasted it will “lead America’s shift to electric vehicles” with the construction of two massive campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky; the company anticipates investing $50 billion in EVs through 2026. Kia aims to have eight EV models available in the United States by 2029; one new plant in Georgia will manufacture nothing but EVs. Volvo has announced plans to produce only electric vehicles, cars, and SUVs by 2030. And General Motors has committed to building one million EVs a year by 2030; by 2035, it anticipates discontinuing the use of the internal combustion engine.

I notice none of those auto plants are in Indiana.

sch 1/21 

Added 1/22:

Over in Scotland, they are also moving to charging stations, Supporting a greener future

NH: When and why did you start this business? Has it been all your own funding or are there partners?

LW: A few friends made the very early transition to EVs but the resounding message was that they would only use their EVs for inner city driving, keeping a petrol or diesel car for long-distance journeys. I was aware that people were genuinely worried about the EV range and charging facilities across the country, and so I commissioned Business Gateway to conduct a survey across the Nordic countries and across the UK. It became massively apparent how far Scotland was behind on EV infrastructure charging and the future requirements associated with benefits to the EV driver.

I subsequently formed FOR:EV in 2017 to help tackle the lack of EV charging infrastructure in Scotland. A funding strategy was in place but Covid-19 set us back a couple of years. However, we secure seed funding from the Scottish National Investment Bank in July 2021 – they shared our vision of providing much-needed public EV charging – and further funding in October this year to accelerate our growth plans.