At this point, it’s clear that electric vehicles hold the key to the future of transportation. Governments all over the world are heavily incentivizing the use of EVs, and for the most part, it’s been working, as electric cars and motorcycles continue to soar in popularity. That being said, the transition to electric hasn’t been without its hitches. In the US, for example, there are thousands of EV chargers that are out of service pending repairs.
A recent article by The Verge goes into detail about this, stating that there are more than 6,000 EV chargers that are currently out of service. The data was sourced from the US government’s database, and represents around four percent of the total number of EV charging stations available. Indeed, this can be quite frustrating for riders and drivers of electric motorcycles and cars. Imagine having your GPS take you to a charger with just a few miles of range left, only for you to find out that the charger is out of service.
With all that being said, the government has announced that it is taking action to resolve the issue. The US Department of Transportation has recently authorized an amount of $100 million to repair and replace non-operational EV charging infrastructure. That amount of money reportedly comes from the government’s previous $7.4 billion investment in EV charging technology which was approved under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. On top of the repair of damaged charging stations, the government is currently working on installing thousands of new EV charging stations along major US highways. The project is estimated at around $1 billion.
The Verge explains that broken EV chargers pose a substantial barrier to entry when it comes to adopting electric vehicles. No matter how you skin it, charging an electric vehicle will take longer than filling up a gas tank, even with today’s cutting-edge tech. The prospect of coming up with a faulty, damaged, or non-operational charger only makes this worse, as users will either have to wait longer in line, or find a new charging station altogether. The report further states that data from JD Power, stating that satisfaction with EV charging infrastructure has been dropping year after year, and is now at its lowest level ever.
The Department of Energy’s database states that there are 151,506 public charging ports available in the US. Out of that number, 6,261 are non-operational for reasons ranging from maintenance, to damage, to power issues. As such, the new $100 million funding is expected to cover the replacement and repair costs. The DOT says that the money will be awarded through a streamlined application process which includes both publicly and privately owned chargers which are accessible to the public without restrictions.
