EV charging will become political

The question is whether each local authority is prepared to contribute in areas where federal funding may be lacking. “The next 10 years (in electric vehicle charging) are going to be about the urban environment, cities and middle- and low-income people,” Rigg says. In a world where electric cars become political lightning rods, those places may see the most charging activity.

EV charging as two parties

Many people would prefer that electric vehicles — and their chargers — could avoid the culture wars altogether. Joe Sachs is executive director of the bipartisan EV Politics Project, an advocacy group, and says putting more public chargers in the ground is crucial to getting more electricity on the road. The group’s surveys suggest that customer concerns about electric vehicle ranges and the unreliable charging network are keeping some of them from purchasing electricity.

Tolling companies are still in their early days, and some are struggling to operate as profitable businesses. Hence, charger financing barriers may be a near-existential concern for the industry. “There’s a scary trend where EV financing is viewed as low-hanging fruit by some in the next administration,” Sachs says. Some politicians use “EV bashing as a tool to enact whatever kind of policy interests them. That’s frustrating to us.”

For those relying on federal shipping money, even during a less enthusiastic Trump administration, there’s some good news: It’s going to be very difficult for the feds to claw back all that federal shipping funding. The government has actually Customized at least $3.5 billion in shipping money to states. Forty-two states have begun receiving bids on charger contracts, and 12 states have at least one station in operation. These states span the political spectrum: Texas, Utah, Kentucky and Ohio all voted Republican last October and are ahead in building chargers. So do Democratic states, including New York, California, Rhode Island, and Maine.

“There is broad support for electrification among a whole range of key stakeholders,” says Jason Mathers, associate vice president of the Zero Emission Truck Initiative at the Environmental Defense Fund. Manufacturers, labor unions, community organizations, politicians who want more EV-related jobs in their districts, and large companies already experimenting with EVs, including Walmart and Amazon, all have reasons to want chargers on the ground. Advocates like Mathers don’t believe these constituencies will disappear just because of a change in administration, meaning the pressure to build the charging network will continue.

Much of the messaging around electric vehicle charging should appeal to politicians of all stripes, says Sachs, director of the Electric Vehicle Policy Project. “We want the Trump administration to see that the transition to electric vehicles is not only critical for the jobs here, but also Maintain our competitiveness Opposite China“.

For example, Sachs finds it encouraging that the Trump administration is willing to invest in domestic battery metal industries. (Today, the majority of battery material extraction and processing takes place abroad, especially in China.) To create demand for this type of industry, more Americans will need to buy electric cars — and they may not do so without plenty of electric car chargers. around. Ensuring that all Americans have access to these new chargers, not just those who live in specific “EV-friendly” states, could get that message across.