The government-backed public EV charger rollout is complicated

In 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law, pledging $7.5 billion to build 500,000 public chargers by 2030 with $5 billion of that sum going to a network of high-speed chargers along the country’s major roadways. 

Driving the news: As of July, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI) has yielded only 11 chargers.

Quick facts: Research led by a Harvard Business School fellow Omar Asensio found that EV charging stations in the U.S. have an average reliability score of only 78% — the other 22% simply don’t work.

• When stations do work properly, drivers aren't happy with how charging stations are priced. Harvard analysts say it's like the “Wild West,” with no rules and no clear pricing.

• S&P Global Mobility forecasts a need for 1.2 million EV chargers nationwide by 2027 and almost twice that by 2030 (not including home chargers).

• The number of public charging stations hasn't kept pace with the growth in EV ownership, said J.D. Power. As a result, the ratio of EVs per charging station has risen, leading to driver clashes.

The whole point of the government’s NEVI is to help address these issues and spur widespread adoption faster and more equitably. But Republican lawmakers have been critical of the program’s underwhelming pace since February. Now, frustration with NEVI is crossing both aisles. 

• "That is pathetic. We're now three years into this ... That is a vast administrative failure," said Democratic Senator from Oregon Jeff Merkley at a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee hearing.

Big picture: Building a nationwide EV charging network isn’t a walk in the park. Each city, county, and state has its own rules, making the process messy and slow, especially outside of wealthy areas. The government’s funding system adds more complexity — states get federal money but decide on their own how to spend it

• $23 million has been earmarked for 41 new charging sites, but contracts are still being finalized months after the announcement. 

• Experts say this sluggish pace is typical—states had to wait on federal standards, then create their own grant processes, leading to long delays in getting chargers hooked up to local utilities.

• “There needs to be an adjustment of expectations about how long it actually takes to get chargers built, because it is a complex process with quite a lot of interdependencies," said Sara Rafalson, executive vice president of public policy and external affairs for charging company EVgo.

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