U.S. pushes for major progress in EV charging

An electric vehicle future that is made in America

The White House has announced several steps towards building a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers that are made in America, as part of their industrial strategy to continue the build-out of the U.S. EV charging industry.

These steps would enable America to meet President Biden’s ambitious goal of having EVs make up at least 50% of new car sales by 2030 and building a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050. The administration aims to create a convenient, reliable and user-friendly EV charging network that would support a sustainable, cleaner, and more affordable future for American transportation.

Building a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030

The Biden-Harris Administration has set an ambitious goal of building a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030. This would support President Biden’s vision of having EVs make up at least 50% of new car sales by 2030 and building a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, the Department of Transportation has announced the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program (NEVI), a $5 billion initiative to create a coast-to-coast network of EV chargers that would allow for long-distance travel across America.

New technical standards to make charging EVs convenient and reliable

A recent survey of EV users reported frustration with chargers that are too slow, too crowded, or that just don’t work.

To ensure everyone can use the network – no matter what car they drive or which state they charge in, the Department of Transportation has finalized new technical standards to make charging EVs convenient and reliable for all Americans. The new standards also require strong workforce standards, which would ensure that the infrastructure is built by workers with good-paying jobs.

Public and private actions to accelerate buildout of national network

To accelerate the build-out of a convenient, reliable charging network, companies including Tesla, General Motors, EVgo, Pilot, Hertz, and BP, among others, are announcing new commitments to expand their networks by thousands of public charging ports in the next two years. This would complement federal dollars and put the nation’s EV charging goals even closer within reach.

Innovative medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans

The Department of Energy has announced .4 million in funding for seven projects to develop innovative medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans serving millions of Americans across 23 states. This funding would support the goal of building a national network of EV chargers for all Americans by supporting EV charging reliability, resiliency, equity, and workforce development.

Charging and fueling infrastructure discretionary grant program

The Biden-Harris Administration has also established a Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program. The program would provide funding to state, local, and tribal governments, as well as private entities to build EV charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations. This program would also support the deployment of advanced technologies, such as smart charging, to make EV charging more convenient and affordable for Americans.

American manufacturing boom for EV chargers

In addition to expanding the charging network, the Biden-Harris Administration aims to promote American manufacturing and create jobs by investing in the domestic EV and EV charging industry. The administration plans to invest $174 billion to promote the production and adoption of EVs, including $15 billion to build a national network of EV charging stations. This investment would support the domestic production of EV batteries, parts, and materials, and would create new job opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

Investments

Tesla, for the first time, will open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla EVs, making at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024. The open chargers will be distributed across the United States. They will include at least 3,500 new and existing 250 kW Superchargers along highway corridors to expand freedom of travel for all EVs, and Level 2 Destination Charging at locations like hotels and restaurants in urban and rural locations. All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website. Additionally, Tesla will more than double its full nationwide network of Superchargers, manufactured in Buffalo, New York.
Hertz and BP are announcing their intention to build out a national network of EV fast charging infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Hertz and bp intend to bring charging infrastructure to Hertz locations across America, including major cities such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The charging hubs will serve rideshare and taxi drivers, car rental customers and the general public at high-demand locations, such as airports. A number of installations are expected to include large-scale charging hubs, known as “gigahubs.” bp aims to invest $1 billion in EV charging in the US by 2030. Hertz’s objective is to make one-quarter of its fleet electric by the end of 2024.
Pilot Company, General Motors, and EVgo have partnered to build a coast-to-coast network of 2,000 high power 350 kW fast chargers at Pilot and Flying J travel centers along American highways. The nationwide network of up to 500 travel centers will enable long distance EV travel by connecting urban and rural communities. Today, the companies are announcing that the first 200+ chargers in this network are expected to be available for use by drivers in 2023.
TravelCenters of America and Electrify America announced that they will offer electric vehicle charging at select Travel Centers of America and Petro locations, with a goal of installing approximately 1,000 EV chargers at 200 locations along major highways over the next five years.
Electrify America recently held the official groundbreaking of Electrify America Solar Glow™ 1, the new 75 MW solar PV project in San Bernardino County, CA to help back all energy delivered to EV drivers with renewable energy across more than 800 DC fast charging stations nationwide.
Mercedes-Benz, ChargePoint, and MN8 Energy announced a partnership to deploy over 400 charging hubs with more than 2,500 publicly accessible DC fast charging ports across the U.S. and Canada.
ChargePoint, Volvo Cars, and Starbucks announced a partnership to deploy 60 DC fast chargers at up to 15 locations along the 1,350-mile pilot route between Seattle and Denver to be completed by summer 2023.
General Motors, in partnership with FLO, has announced a collaborative effort with dealers to install up to 40,000 public Level 2 EV chargers in local communities by 2026 through GM’s Dealer Community Charging Program. The new charging stations will join the GM’s Ultium Charge 360 network, and will be available to all EV drivers.
Francis Energy, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based EV charge point operator, is expanding into 40 states in 2023, with plans to install 50,000 EV charging ports by 2030 in partnership with municipalities, auto dealers, Tribal Nations, and private businesses. Currently 75% of Francis Energy’s network is in Justice40 communities.
Forum Mobility, a zero-emission trucking solutions provider, recently announced a $400 million commitment to deploy over 1,000 DC fast-chargers. The charging infrastructure will serve the thousands of heavy-duty electric trucks projected to begin operating at the San Pedro and Oakland ports in California over the next decade. The community charging depots will create over 600 new union jobs in disadvantaged communities while reducing harmful emissions at the ports and along freight corridors.
Ford has committed to installing at least one public-facing DC Fast charger with two ports at 1,920 Ford dealerships by January 2024.

Tritium DCFC Limited, an Australian-based EV fast charger producer, held a grand opening in August for its first US-based factory, located in Lebanon, Tennessee. The facility will produce up to 30,000 DC fast chargers per year at peak capacity. Today, Tritium announced it will add more than 250 jobs to this facility, for a total of more than 750 cleantech jobs at the company’s Lebanon factory. Tritium is a participant in the White House Talent Pipeline Challenge, a nationwide initiative to create equitable job opportunities in growing industries.
Electrify America last year announced a new investment of $450 million into its charging network by Siemens, a global technology and electrification company, and Volkswagen Group. These investments will support the rapid deployment of up to 10,000 ultra-fast chargers at 1,800 charging stations, in the U.S. and Canada by 2026.
ChargePoint is expanding its partnership with SMTC Corporation to expand DCFC production, establish a manufacturing line for Level 2 chargers at their Milpitas, CA facility, and create approximately 250 new manufacturing jobs. The expanded facility will be able to produce 10,000 DCFC chargers and 10,000 Level 2 chargers by 2026.
Wallbox, a Spanish-based provider of EV charging and energy management solutions worldwide, opened its first North American manufacturing facility in Arlington, TX. The $70 million, 150,000 square foot facility has the capacity to produce over 250,000 units in 2023 and over one million in 2030, including its next-gen Hypernova DC Fast Chargers. The facility will support 250 high-paying jobs by 2025 and 700 jobs by 2030.
SK Signet, a South Korean-based EV charging company specializing in ultra-fast charging infrastructure, is building its first American manufacturing facility in Plano, TX. By 2026, SK Signet expects to be producing up to 10,000 DC Fast chargers annually and will support 183 highly-skilled jobs.
ADS-Tec Energy, a German-based provider of battery powered EV Charging stations, will invest $8 million in building its first U.S. facility to perform assembly, sales, warehousing, and servicing in Auburn, AL. The facility is expected to create more than 180 jobs.
EVBox, a Netherlands-based EV charging manufacturer, announced plans for its first North American headquarters and production facility in Libertyville, IL. The 60,000 square foot facility aims to produce around 200 units of DC fast charging per week – a level of production expected to create between 80-120 new jobs in the immediate region.
FreeWire announced a new 66,000 square foot global headquarters in Newark, CA, a $20 million investment that will focus on R&D and manufacturing of ultrafast EV charging equipment and more than 200 well-paying engineering and manufacturing jobs in electrification and clean energy across the community.
ABB E-Mobility recently commenced production of DC Fast Chargers from its new facility in Columbia, SC. This $4 million investment follows previous commitments to add 125 jobs across its operations at its Sugarland, Texas training center and Southern California product development and research facility.
Siemens has expanded its electric vehicle (EV) charging manufacturing footprint with the recent selection of Carrollton, Texas, to serve as its second U.S. EV charger manufacturing hub. This announcement builds on the more than $140 million Siemens has newly invested across its electrical products manufacturing sites in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Pomona, California, facilities that serve critical infrastructure markets and support union jobs. The new facility, expected to be fully operational in Spring 2023. Siemens is also a partnering with the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP) by developing curriculum to ensure a skilled talent pipeline of American EV charger installation workers.
EverCharge, a provider of turnkey EV charging solutions, is opening a new 30,000 square foot production factory in Hayward, CA and plans to double its factory workforce by mid-2023.
Lincoln Electric, long-time welding giant, has announced a new product line of DC fast chargers that leverages core manufacturing and engineering capabilities in power supply technology at its facility in Cleveland, Ohio.
FLO, a North American EV charging network operator and smart charging solutions provider, announced a $3 million investment in its first U.S. assembly facility located in Auburn Hills, Michigan earlier this month. By 2028, the facility will help FLO bring 250,000 charging stations to American drivers, create, and support upwards of 730 jobs, and bolster Michigan’s economy by $76 million.
EdgeEnergy will be investing $150 million in the Ohio economy to build 3 phase power converters for DC Fast Chargers, adding 60 new manufacturing and engineering jobs over the next 24 months.
Blink will expand its Bowie, Maryland facility by 30,000sq ft, investing $49M over 10 years and create 60 new jobs to produce L2 Chargers. Additionally, in 2023, Blink will announce a new 200,000sq ft. manufacturing plant for DC fast chargers investing a total $156M over 10yrs, creating 160 new jobs.
ChargerHelp! and SAE International’s Sustainable Mobility Solutions have announced a partnership to assist in the EV charging workforce development for the next generation of Certified Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE) Maintenance Technicians. The EVSE Field Technician Program will certify skills needed by EVSE field technicians to diagnose, report and help repair technical components of the charging equipment, including hardware and software issues. Within the next two years, this national program will help more than 3,000 trainees from low-income, disadvantaged, typically underrepresented communities, and those transitioning from other industries reach these technology-forward jobs;
Mercedes-Benz USA and the Department of Labor announced a national partnership to create pathways for students from 16 to 24 years of age toward good-paying jobs as auto technicians, including potential employment with Mercedes-Benz. Job Corps will now offer students opportunities to study high-voltage and electric vehicles, and training opportunities with high-voltage vehicles at the following campuses: Earle C. Clements Job Corps in Morganfield, Kentucky; Westover Job Corps in Chicopee, Massachusetts; Edison Job Corps in Edison, New Jersey; and Clearfield Job Corps in Clearfield, Utah. The Job Corps network currently has 121 centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; and,
Qmerit, a provider of Distributed Workforce Management solutions for EV charging and other electrification technologies in North America, plans to perform over 120,000 EV and electrification jobs at residential and mid-market commercial properties in 2023. This expansion builds on the more than 250,000 Level 2 charging systems and hundreds of thousands of related electrification technologies that Qmerit has installed to date. In addition, Qmerit will facilitate access to EVITP training and certification for its network of over 12,000 electricians through the Qmerit Resource Center. This platform helps grow a diverse and climate-conscious workforce by connecting small- and medium-size electrical contractors, more than 15% of which are minority and disadvantaged businesses, with individuals looking to begin or repurpose their careers in the electric and EV sectors.

For more information on these announcements visit driveelectric.gov. See here for a more comprehensive list of investments in EV charging in the United States.