U.S. funnels $623M to grow EV charging infrastructure

The United States Department of Transportation has funneled $623 million in grants into efforts to expand the electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country as EVs are becoming more popular.

The grants will help build EV charging stations in 22 states and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. There will be 47 projects in total and 7,500 new EV charging ports.

“We’re at a moment now where the electric vehicle revolution isn’t coming. It is very much here,” Pete Buttigieg said to reporters on Thursday.

The Biden Adminsitration has had the task of handling the widespread adoption of EVs, and charging infrastructure has been arguably the biggest missing piece in the goal to help Americans buy more zero-emissions vehicles.

The President has set a goal of installing half a million EV chargers across the U.S. by 2030. EVs continue to grab additional market share every year, and Tesla is leading the way. The company outsold Subaru, BMW, and Volkswagen this year, grabbing 4.2 percent of the total U.S. vehicle market share.

Tesla outpaces Volkswagen, Subaru, BMW in 2023 U.S. market share

However, even with the growth, charging has still been where most consumers have their concerns buried. Although home charging is an ideal solution, those who live in apartments or townhomes may not have access to it, which makes the need for public charging that much more important.

Shailen Bhatt of the Federal Highway Administration said:

“This charging infrastructure is making sure that everyone from the local business owner to a freight truck operator can conveniently and reliably get where they need to go.”

Some of the $623 million has already been divvied among several U.S. regions. New Jersey is getting $10 million, Maryland is getting $15 million, Contra Costa County will receive $15 million to build chargers at Northern California’s library system in the area, Energy Northwest is getting $15 million to build chargers across western Washington and Northern Oregon, and $1.4 million is being set aside for the town of Haines, which is being given to the Chilkoot Indian Association.

The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal’s $2.5 billion discretionary grant program, ABC reported.

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