Charging Stations Still Too Few and Far Between

By Elaine S. Povich

Purchases of electric vehicles are growing at an astronomical rate — an 81 percent increase from 2017 to 2018, according to the Edison Electric Institute, which tracks electricity use — and nothing indicates the trend will slow dramatically any time soon. But if anything could stunt that growth, it's the lack of power charging stations.

Many states want to encourage electric vehicle use to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change. But ensuring that there are enough charging stations has been a challenge. Some states provide incentives for private investment, while others are relying on millions from a settlement with Volkswagen over its falsification of emissions tests to subsidize the building of commercial charging stations.

In addition, state utilities have just begun to cope with how to regulate the power supplied by the chargers by setting cost per kilowatt, peak charges, and subsidies.

Legislatures in Colorado, Washington, California, and New Mexico passed laws in 2019 calling on state utility boards to write rules governing electric charging stations to encourage electric vehicle adoption. Other states are also considering bills addressing electric vehicles and charging stations.

Own an Electric Car?

Here's Where to Plug It In

As electric vehicles increase in popularity, the challenge for drivers has become finding convenient charging stations, especially on long trips.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office

Incentives

Many states give residents incentives to buy electric vehicles. California allows alternative-fuel cars to use high-occupancy lanes and provides a rebate of between $1,500 and $2,000 on plug-in electric vehicles and hybrids. A federal program also gives rebates on a sliding scale. But both of those programs are phasing out.

One of the biggest pushes for electric vehicles came with the 2017 Volkswagen pollution settlement, under which the car company settled with the federal government for violating emissions laws. The settlement allowed states to allocate up to 15 percent of their share of the nearly $3 billion Environmental Mitigation Trust from the Volkswagen payout to electric vehicle infrastructure.

Overall, California is the leading state in providing electric vehicle infrastructure. Former Governor Jerry Brown signed a 2018 executive order setting a goal of five million electric vehicles on the state's roads by 2030. Under the order, the state will spend $2.5 billion to continue electric vehicle rebates and build 250,000 electric charging stations.

Chickens and eggs

Aside from personal vehicles, the push toward no-emissions electric vehicles includes cities and other jurisdictions committing to turning their fleet cars and trucks over to electric. Minnesota, for example, in November pledged $15 million of its Volkswagen settlement money to replace state school buses and heavy-duty vehicles with ones powered by electric motors and install more charging stations.

"Grant programs like Minnesota's are critical to installing electric charging infrastructure," says Kevin Miller, director of public policy at ChargePoint, a company that provides networks of residential and commercial electric vehicle charging stations. He says states like Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado are considering modifying the regulatory and policy framework of electric vehicle charging.

But isn't it a "chicken-and-egg" question of whether chargers come first and then more vehicles — or more vehicles demanding places to charge up?

"It's not that we need a lot of chickens or a lot of eggs," Miller says. "They have to complement each other. Having a comprehensive state plan is important. A comprehensive plan addresses the systemic issues head-on."

Elaine S. Povich is a staff writer at Stateline. This story was reprinted with permission from Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.