Just seven electric vehicle charging stations have been up and running with funding from a $5 billion U.S. government program created in 2021, making progress “dismal,” a Democratic senator said Wednesday.
Automakers and others say a significant expansion of EV charging stations is essential for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, which is part of the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The seven EV charging stations deployed so far under the U.S. program in 2021 contain a total of several dozen charging ports, Federal Highway Administration head Shailen Bhatt said at a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) hearing.
“This is terrible. It’s been going on for three years now… This is a huge administrative failure,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “Something is terribly wrong and it needs to be fixed.”
He also criticized the fact that EV charging stations cannot be installed at rest areas under current federal highway regulations.
Bhatt said he too was frustrated by the slow rollout and that officials were working with states on plans to roll out EV chargers.
“There are a lot of issues,” Butt said, noting that states are working on multiple programs.
Senate Electricity, Gas and Water Committee Chairman Tom Carper said he is considering holding a hearing on the slow adoption of EV charging infrastructure.
“We want to make sure that the funds allocated by the federal government are being used for the right purposes,” Carper said.
Republican lawmakers expressed concern in February about the implementation of the EV program, saying “little progress has been made.”
The White House’s goal is to expand the national charger network to 500,000 ports, including fast chargers installed no more than 50 miles apart on the nation’s busiest highways.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters on Tuesday that 27 states have asked the private sector to build charging stations and that she expects the federal program to have about 1,000 EV charging stations up and running in public places by the end of the year.
“Those are the hardest things,” Granholm said, adding that some of the areas where the charging stations will be installed still don’t have electricity.
As of December last year, there were 183,000 public charging ports in the United States, and the number of public fast charging ports has increased by 90% since the Biden administration took office, Bhatt said, adding that he was confident the U.S. would reach its goal of 500,000 charging ports.
