Public EV charging jumps in US but is it enough?
Electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities are on the rise in the United States, and it is mainly due to the installation of public charging ports which has jumped nearly 11-fold over the last decade.
This is according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) of the US Department of Energy which reports on Level 1, Level 2, and DC fast charging electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) simply known as ports as well as charging locations of which we can call stations.
How many public chargers are there?
A total of 136,513 EVSE ports were available to the public in 2022, up 19% from the 114,451 ports in 2021. When compared to 10 years prior, the uptick was nearly 11-fold as only 12,726 charging ports were available in 2012.
In terms of stations, the 53,764 locations reported in 2022 was 16% more than the 46,407 found in 2021. Looking ten years back, the jump was nearly 10-fold from the 5,444 available stations at the time.
As for private chargers, this number is also increasing but having public charging infrastructure available is the focus of this article. See more from the AFDC here.
To facilitate charging availability, Tesla has opened up its EV charging network to OEMS such as Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes Benz. (courtesy of Tesla)
Is the US ready?
Considering the growth in charging availability, one may think that the country is doing okay, but is it really? Keep in mind that the US government has set a 2030 goal which calls for at least 50% of its new vehicle sales that year to be zero-emission.
To achieve this goal, 48 million vehicles (or 15% of all vehicles on the road) would need to be an EV in 2030, according to an analysis by McKinsey & Company.
To support, the federal government’s Inflation Reduction Act which also addresses climate change and energy transition is providing $7.5 billion in funding for 500,000 public EV charging stations.
However, according to McKinsey analysts, it is likely that some 1.2 million public chargers will be needed by 2030, approximately 20 times the 53,764 that were available in 2022. The study also said that 28 million private EV charging stations would be needed in 2030, a far cry from the number today.
With that said, we can see that the US has a long way to go if it really expects to achieve its 2030 goal with enough infrastructure to supply the national fleet. This will take both public and private sector initiatives and investments.
For more on what is taking place throughout North America, download your free copy of the latest Global Fleet eBook on the region entitled Fleet Optimization Acrosss North America.
