On August 9, 2022, an electric vehicle from Tesla, Inc. is charged at the Supercharger location in Hawthorne, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
The Biden administration wants to see at least 500,000 electric vehicle chargers on U.S. roads by 2030 and on Wednesday announced a list of initiatives to help make that happen, including commitments from companies that build and operate charging networks such as Tesla, GM, Ford, ChargePoint and others.
All companies can reap the benefits of federal funding if their planned charging infrastructure projects meet the new federal standards, which were also revealed Wednesday.
As part of that effort, White House officials said, they blocked Tesla’s commitment to open thousands of its chargers to electric vehicles made by other manufacturers. Until now, in the US, Tesla supercharging stations were accessible mainly to drivers of the company’s cars.
Tesla specifically agreed to make at least 7,500 of its US public access chargers available for use by any compatible electric vehicle by the end of 2024. This total will include at least 3,500 of its 250 kilowatt Tesla chargers located in key corridors of roads, as well as the slower Level 2 destination chargers the automaker offers at places like hotels and restaurants, officials said.
Tesla also agreed to triple the number of Superchargers on its U.S. network, with new chargers to be manufactured in Buffalo, NY, the official said. The company has been assembling some of its charging equipment at a Buffalo facility that was originally intended as a solar panel factory.
Tesla has intended to open its charging network in the US for years. According to Tesla’s most recent annual financial filing, in November 2021 the company “began offering Supercharger access to non-Tesla vehicles in select locations in support of our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”.
White House infrastructure chief Mitch Landrieu told reporters Tuesday that Musk was one of several auto industry CEOs involved in talks with the White House about charging infrastructure last year.
“It was very open, it was very constructive,” said Landrieu. “And at that point, he said his intention was to work with us to make his network interoperable. Everyone else on the call agreed.”
Landrieu added, “It was very important to us that everyone was included in the conversation.”
The White House also praised other automakers and companies, praising a separate agreement between General Motors, Pilot Company and the EVGo charging network to install 2,000 fast chargers at Pilot and Flying J centers along the highways north- american
GM, through a separate partnership with FLO, also plans to install up to 40,000 Level 2 EV public chargers in US communities by 2026, which will become part of the Ultium Charge 360 network from GM and will be available to all drivers of electric vehicles.
Ford has committed to installing DC Fast chargers at 1,920 of the company’s dealerships by January 2024.
The electric vehicle charging unit of Hertz and oil giant BP plans to install thousands of chargers in major US cities for Hertz customers and the general public.
Among Wednesday’s announcements, the Energy and Transport departments also unveiled new charging standards that “ensure everyone can use the grid, no matter what car you drive or what state you’re charging in.” Among the requirements:
- All new chargers built with federal funds must support the Combined Charging System (CCS) plug standard. The CCS standard is used by most car manufacturers other than Tesla.
- New charging sites built with federal funds must have a minimum number of DC Fast chargers.
- Federally funded chargers must be operational at least 97% of the time once installed.
- Effective immediately, all federally funded loaders must be assembled in the US and their steel enclosures must be manufactured in the US. By July 2024, at least 55% of charger components (measured by cost) must be made in the US as a good.
- New chargers built with federal funds to support new user-friendly technologies like “Plug and Charge,” which, as the name suggests, automates the process of paying the charge.
There are also new rules to ensure drivers don’t have to use multiple apps to find and use chargers, making data about charger locations, prices and availability public and available through mapping apps.
But in an omission that will raise questions from die-hard environmentalists, the new government-funded electric vehicle chargers won’t necessarily be powered by clean energy sources.
Officials said it will be up to the company whether the federally funded electric vehicle chargers run on renewable energy or “clean electricity” or simply plug into the existing power grid.
Transportation has been responsible for 25 percent of carbon emissions from human activity globally, according to estimates by the non-profit International Council on Clean Transportation. Much of this pollution comes from tailpipe emissions, but charging with electricity from clean or renewable sources increases the climate benefits of switching to an electric vehicle.
According to Project Drawdown’s environmental impact research, compared to gasoline vehicles, emissions drop by 50% when an electric vehicle’s power is taken from the conventional grid. When powered by solar energy, an electric vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions drop by 95% compared to a comparable gasoline-burning internal combustion engine vehicle.
However, officials suggested it will all work out in the long run. During the briefing, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm emphasized that the president’s goal is to reach a “completely clean power grid” by 2035.
