Posted November 12, 2021
By Ray Blanco
The American Highway Boom is Coming
The electric vehicle (EV) boom is coming… Before you know it, combustion engines will be a thing of the past and we’ll be using charging stations instead of gas stations.
Public and private entities alike are already getting on board, gearing up to spend billions of dollars building out the critical infrastructure needed for the influx of electric vehicles set to hit the road over the next decade.
And while wildfires, extreme weather and rising temperatures are battering the country — and the world — it’s no secret that we are long overdue for decarbonization.
Transportation alone accounted for 29% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 and the majority of that came from passenger vehicles.
Luckily, we are right around the corner of a full transition to EVs, which would certainly help the cause.
However, this transition brings additional challenges… In order to achieve widespread EV use, the country will need a lot more EV chargers — fast.
For starters, the majority of EV drivers will likely do the bulk of their charging at home.
But a lack of public charging infrastructure will prove difficult for those who live in apartments, and those who are cross-country travelers (i.e., long-distance delivery vehicles).
Currently it seems that the Biden administration is about to net funding for public EV charging stations over the next five years.
In a recently approved bill that Biden is slated to sign into law on Monday, about $7.5 billion is being set aside for EV charging and related programs. The target is to have 500,000 public charging stations by 2030.
We could also see an additional $5 billion in Department of Transportation grants.
But still, consulting firm AlixPartners has said that it expects it will require a lot more money to build out an adequate public charging network by 2030… about $50 billion as a rough estimate.
So, what goes into building a public charging station? Well, it’s a little more involved than it might appear to be.
Every charging station requires three entities to work together.
First, you need a site host: any public space that can support a charging site (Walmart, a shopping mall, parking garage, etc.)
Next, you need a hardware provider, a company that provides charging stations.
Finally, you need a utility service provider: something to actually provide the electricity used to charge the vehicle.
As one could imagine, the coordination across all these entities can get complicated. Especially when you consider that we will need public charging stations across the country, state and local governments will come into play as well.
To make a long story short, we have our work cut out for us...
As always, I’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the latest news surrounding the EV boom.
Stay tuned. There will be more to come.
To a bright future,
Ray Blanco
Chief Technology Expert, Technology Profits Daily
AskRay@StPaulResearch.com