Electric vehicles are on the rise in the US, with more than 3 million EVs on the road today. To support EV adoption, the Biden administration has pledged to create a network of half a million public charging ports across the country. On Friday, the administration announced $51 million in funding, with the goal of ensuring the network is resilient and reliable.
The Ride and Drive Electric program will fund efforts aimed at accelerating the transportation sector’s shift to EVs, including projects to improve and deploy EV charging stations, according to a Department of Energy news release. The administration also launched a new group, the National Charging Experience Consortium, tasked with making public EV charging easy to use for everyone.
“The EV revolution is well underway, and this funding will help to ensure that every American can access the benefits and count on a reliable EV charging network across the country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the release.
The initiative to accelerate nationwide electrification is part of President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which is geared toward making EV charging networks accessible to everyone in the US.
More than 53,000 public charging stations exist in the United States, with California at over 14,000 and Alaska at only 59, according to the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. The current number of public charging stations is a far cry from the 500,000-station network the administration hopes to build out.
In August, Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which made way for significant clean energy infrastructure developments like the EV tax credit. That credit reduces the price Americans have to pay for EVs made in the US, up to $7,500.
From wider price ranges to more car brands releasing EV models of their own, there hasn’t been a better time to buy an EV. Less expensive varieties, like the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV, start at around $29,000 and higher-end options go up from there, with BMW’s i7 xDrive60 at about $120,000.
