WASHINGTON— The U.S. government is spending billions of dollars to create thousands of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in coming years, most of them along major transportation corridors nationwide. But will it be enough to keep the EV market growing?
It’s an open question—and an important one. The availability of public charging opportunities can influence EV sales, which in turn are vital to meeting the nation’s reduced emissions targets.
Omar Asensio, a visiting climate fellow at Harvard Business School’s Institute for the Study of Business in Global Society (BiGS) who studies the electric vehicle charging market, told The BiGS Fix that America’s approach to public charging has differed sharply from those in other countries.
In Europe and Asia, governments started making major investments in public charging infrastructure years ago. In America, the initial thinking was that private companies would fill the public’s need by spending money to install charging stations at hotels, shopping malls and other public venues. But that decentralized approach failed to meet demand and the Biden administration is now investing heavily to grow the charging network and facilitate EV sales.
“Attracting private investment and sustainable business models through high-quality charging experiences is critical,” said Asensio, who is also an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “If you look at the growth in China, it just towers over the investment we've seen here in the U.S.”
Today’s EV charging market: ‘Chicken or egg’
In a 2023 policy briefing that lays out the Biden Administration’s plan to build a national charging network, the White House described the problem as a “chicken or egg” equation.
The dilemma? On one hand, consumers are wary of buying EVs without enough charging infrastructure to support them, limiting demand. But on the other hand, business is reluctant to invest in additional charging infrastructure without enough EVs to support that investment, limiting supply.
Yet the report makes clear the opportunity for both business and society: That investing in infrastructure is twice as cost effective as subsidizing cars at the point of sale.
“No single market actor has sufficient incentive to build out a national charging network at a pace that meets our climate goals,” the report declared. Citing research and the experience of other countries, it noted that “policies that increase access to charging stations may be among the best policies to increase EV sales.”
But the U.S. is far behind other countries and may be facing headwinds. While money was allocated, results have been slow, with the first Biden-funded charging station opening in December of 2023 in Ohio. Some Republicans in Congress have opposed the administration’s push for electric vehicles, and the administration itself is slowing down the timeframe for emissions rules that boost EV sales.
There is also a major election coming this year, which will determine which party controls both Congress and the White House. The outcome could have a major impact on emissions rules, charging infrastructure and other policies that impact electric vehicle sales.
Meanwhile, there are currently more than 64,000 publicly accessible EV charging stations in the U.S., according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. First-ever research by Asensio and his team indicate that these charging stations aren’t 100% reliable. In fact, their research shows that U.S. charging stations have an average reliability score of just 78%, meaning about one in five is broken, malfunctioning or otherwise problematic. This insight was revealed by AI-based analysis that overcame data interoperability challenges that stymied this finding until now.
Experts say the U.S. will need far more charging locations to shore up consumer confidence in EVs and keep sales growing. One estimate by S&P Global Mobility says 1.2 million Level 2 chargers (the most common type, which charge an EV battery in a few hours) will be needed nationwide by 2027 and almost twice that by 2030. And that’s not counting the need for fast public chargers and in-home chargers.
By contrast, China already has roughly 1.8 million public chargers. Put another way, China has almost 10 charging locations per 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) of roadway—and it ranks fourth behind South Korea (75), Netherlands (22) and Norway (14), according to numbers provided by Statista.
That same study shows the United States has fewer than one charging location every 62 miles.