Federal Government Awards $623 in EV Charging Grants

The Biden administration’s push to electrify the transportation sector continues with the announcement of $623 million in grants for electric car charging infrastructure.

According to Aarian Marshall and Matt Simon in Wired, “The funding is the latest chunk of change to be released from a total of $7.5 billion earmarked for charging and greener fueling in 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.” The money is aimed at supporting the installation of 7,500 charging ports in primarily rural and low-income areas.

“The country currently has almost 161,000 charging ports, according to the US Department of Energy. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory study released last summer suggested the country will need 1.2 million by 2030 to meet demand from the growing national EV fleet.” Having a comprehensive network of accessible charging stations will help ease drivers’ concerns about driving range and encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles for consumers and commercial fleets. According to Marshall and Simon, “Emerging research suggests that just seeing chargers around makes drivers more likely to go electric.”