Today there was a big announcement from the White House for future EV charging stations…
- Tesla will open up thousands of charger stations to the rest of the EVs – the vehicles made by every other manufacturer that generally have a CCS fast charging port!
- Made-in-America charging stations: The thousands of stations that will be added to the intermittently sparse current network of charging stations will be build with at least 55% materials built-in-USA.
- Easier charging and payment – without specific details, but hopefully as easy as plugging in quarters or swiping a card in front of the machine?
- “requiring a 97 percent uptime reliability requirement” – Many charger stations, especially fast charge stations, are expensive pieces of machinery that could be expensive to replace/repair, and we’ve all seen stores or areas with some old J1772 plug with an out-of-order sign… that no one seems to care to fix…
In the White House briefing you can read more details, including the list of companies on board with the plan:
Hertz, BP, Pilot Company, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Ford… Some of these are companies that a few years ago no one would have associated with electric vehicles. If they continue to be significantly more cost-effective and zippy and generally better fit for most consumers as compared to the older gasoline vehicles, this expansion may solve one of the last hurdles to adoption.