Companies Eyeing EV Charging as Next Big Opportunity

"With carmakers and state and federal government entities increasingly looking to combat carbon emissions with electric vehicles, one of the major sticking points to their widespread adoption remains the nation’s undersized and spotty charging infrastructure." As Planetizen previously covered, more private companies are stepping in to fill the gap and position themselves as key players in the growing electric infrastructure industry. 

Jamie Lincoln Kitman reports on one such company, Charge, which "is offering a nationwide soup-to-nuts service that provides siting, planning, permitting and construction of E.V. charging stations."

"According to the Energy Department, there are roughly 50,000 (overnight or workday) Level 2 charger locations in service in the United States and Canada, and about 7,000 Level 3 fast charger locations, of which 1,400 are part of Tesla’s supercharging network," far short of the 500,000 proposed by President Biden and the millions needed to provide comprehensive coverage. Kitman writes that "Mr. Fox and Mr. LaNeve anticipate that eight million to 10 million chargers will be installed across the country over the next 15 or so years. They foresee a constantly changing parade of new technologies and a broad array of places where charging stations might be located, including hotels, supermarkets, health clubs and office buildings."

In the article, Charge chief executive Andrew Fox likens EV charging to cell phone coverage. "It’s like if you were trying to use a cellphone to go cross-country 30 years ago. You got expensive charges for roaming, you got dropped calls." Now, coverage is, for the most part, ubiquitous.