May fuel cost to drive 100 miles in the Bay Area. Average gas $19.52, Average electric $5.14

​

Good News on Charging and Why It’s Important

In May everyone from the Financial Times to Men’s Journal quoted a J.D. Power’s report that more new-vehicle shoppers say they are “very unlikely” to consider an EV. 21.0% in March up from 17.8% in January. (This number has moved up and down, so not clear to me why it made so much news.) I think the reasons given for rejection by “very unlikely” and “somewhat unlikely” shoppers are more important.  The top three are: Lack of charging availability, 49%; Purchase price, 49%; and Limited driving distance per charge, 43%. Lack of charging availability and limited driving distance per charge (range) both relate to the question, “Can this vehicle get me where I want to go?” That is why good news on charging is important.

What is the good news on charging?

• Public charging is growing fast. The number of public charging outlets has averaged over 24% per year growth for the last 5 years.

• The White House on February 15 announced several charging programs that are aimed at accelerating this growth including:

  • $7.5 Billion in funding for public chargers,

  • 500,000 additional public chargers by 2030,

  • $5 Billion to fund coast-to-coast networks of public chargers along major highways,

  • $2.5 Billion over 5 years in grants to local governments to support charging, and

  • Funded chargers must maintain a 97% uptime,

• In conjunction with the February 15 announcement commitments were made by many private companies:

  • Tesla committed to opening its Supercharger network to non-Tesla owners by the end of 2024,

  • BP committed to spend $1 billion on charging in the US by 2030,

  • Pilot, General Motors, and EVgo will install 2,000 350 kW chargers at travel centers along highways,

  • TravelCenters and Electrify America will install 1,000 DC Fast chargers along highways,

  • General Motors and Flo will install 40,000 public chargers at GM dealerships, and

  • Ford will install at least one public DC Fast charger with two ports at 1,920 dealerships by 2024.

• Ford announced a deal on May 25 that will give its vehicles access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers.

• Mercedes Benz in January announced that it will launch a new, open electric vehicle charger network in North America later in 2023. Mercedes plans to have more than 400 stations, with more than 2,500 high-power chargers in operation across North America by 2027.

• Walmart announced on April 6 that by 2030 they plan to build out their own fast-charging network at thousands of locations. This will add to the almost 1,300 current fast-charging stations at 280 locations.

 

Upcoming Local Events 

• 3 June, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Destination Electric: A Los Altos EV Showcase, 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos, CA

• 7 June, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM, EV 101: Electrify Your Ride, Online event, contact Ride & Drive Clean

• 13 June, Noon - 1:00 PM, EV 102: New EV Owner Workshop, Online event, contact Ride & Drive Clean

• 14 June, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM, Nordic Mingle Event (with Electric Vehicle Symposium), Nordic Innovation House, 470 Ramona Street, Palo Alto, CA

• 24 June, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, EV Ride and Drive, 999 E Caribbean Drive, Sunnyvale, CA

• 24 June – 25 June, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Electrify Expo-San Francisco, 2153 Ferry Point, Alameda, CA

• 27 June, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Business Breakthroughs: Sustainability and Renewed Power (Alameda Chamber of Commerce), 2215A South Shore Center Alameda, CA

​

​