White House unveils $5 billion plan to blanket US highways with new electric-car chargers

[nitpicker]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/white-house-unveils-5-billion-plan-to-blanket-us-highways-with-new-electric-car-chargers/ar-AATH4PB?ocid=msedgntp

White House unveils $5 billion plan to blanket US highways with new electric-car chargers
[e-mail] (Tim Levin) - 1h ago

The US government is starting to make good on Joe Biden's promise for 500,000 public electric-car chargers.
The government will give nearly $5 billion to help states build out their charging infrastructure.
The plan aims to beef up charging access along interstate highways.
(snip)

The US Departments of Energy and Transportation announced on Thursday that they will dole out nearly $5 billion over the next five years to help states beef up access to electric-vehicle charging. It's part of the White House's broader goal to curb climate change and get more Americans into zero-emission vehicles.
(snip)

[lagomorph777]

1. SineManchin will be cool with it...

...as long as they are coal-powered.

[EYESORE 9001]

2. It's not a chicken-or-egg philosophical debate

The infrastructure must be in place before EVs proliferate.

[PoliticAverse]

5. What is preventing EVs from proliferating is the time it takes to charge and the range between

required charges.

[Haggard Celine]

3. That's what it's going to take if we're serious about getting

people to use electric vehicles. It'll probably take a lot more than that if we want people in every podunk town to use them. They need to be as common as gas stations are now. In fact, why can't we get every gas station to have electric hookups, just like they have pumps set aside for diesel? Charging stations need to be common as mud.

[PoliticAverse]

6. The problem isn't lack of charging stations really....

It is the time it takes to charge and the range between required charges.

[Haggard Celine]

7. Yeah, the car companies are going to have to get to work on that.

Don't know what it's going to take to solve that problem. I don't know what they need to help them get it solved, either. More money for research? Would that help them get to a solution quicker?

[PoliticAverse]

8. It's the reason there are companies pushing for hydrogen as the alternative to battery-electric.

Longer range and faster refueling times.

[Haggard Celine]

13. Gosh, I hope we're doing the right thing by building electric stations!

Build stations that can be repurposed to hydrogen stations, maybe, or build them so that they can be used for both. It's rather distressing that we have this dilemma right now. It's kind of like the AC vs. DC question in the early days of electric power. We'll have to be really careful that we make the right decision here.

[PoliticAverse]

14. California has gone pretty big for hydrogen (quite a few refueling stations).

Not anywhere else in the US yet.

Hydrogen Fueling Station Locations by State
https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10370

Most everyone seems to be jumping on the battery-electric bandwagon now.

[Timewas]

9. Read an article

On that and apparently one of the main problems is the charging cables cannot take the heat of fast charging


https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/urdue-cable-aims-to-charge-electric-cars-in-less-than-five-minutes

[PoliticAverse]

11. This is one of the problems right now, if you build a charging station how long before

it is obsoleted by something better?

A 5-minute charge would be acceptable to most everyone.

[hunter]

15. They'll never be as common as gas stations because most charging is done at home.

I live in solidly Democratic California. There are charging stations all over town but they are mostly used by travelers.

The busiest charging station is in a large complex of big box stores and restaurants easily accessible from the freeway. There's a Tesla charging station in one parking lot aisle and another generic charging station in a nearby aisle. People passing through town generally sit down to eat a leisurely meal while their cars are charging.

When the sun is shining some of the electric power for these charging stations comes from rooftop solar panels on the big box stores.

Some apartment building owners here, seeking to attract more upscale tenants, are installing car chargers in parking spaces.

These future technologies are already here.

Hopefully this initiative will bring public charging stations to places that just don't "get it" yet.

[Haggard Celine]

17. Y'all are always on the cutting edge in California.

The problem is that by the time the technology available out there right now reaches to where I am, it's become obsolete. We're in a time of upheaval on a lot of fronts, and we need people who are scrupulous and forward-thinking in charge to make the decisions needed to lead us into the future. People like that are in very short supply. I think Joe Biden is a good man, but honestly, I don't know how much time he has left. Should we go with electric cars or go with hydrogen? Should we leave that for government to decide or let it be decided in the marketplace? A wrong decision could cost us a lot.

[hunter]

18. I don't think hydrogen is in the cards anymore. Charging cars at home is too convenient.

Car chargers themselves will accommodate any future battery technology. They are not specific to today's lithium batteries.

The only disruptive technology I see is carbon-neutral synthetic fuels made using nuclear power. That's not going to happen anytime soon.

[Haggard Celine]

19. That makes sense.

People want the convenience of charging their cars at home. It's convenient and it gives them some control over their cars, since they can't really work on them at home like they can with gasoline powered cars.

[Klaralven]

4. $10,000 per charger

[Calista241]

10. Doesn't that seem a little expensive per charger?

A family member of mine just bought a Tesla and is spending $1k or so to have the charger put in. I know it's different from a house to a parking lot, but a 10x increase?

[PoliticAverse]

12. You have to run hefty powerlines to where you place the chatrgers.

Then build the actual place (buy, excavate, pave, pour) so costs add up.

[Zorro]

16. Superchargers have been a key strategic advantage for Tesla

They locate them conveniently close to malls/shopping centers, hotels, and places to eat to give people something to do with their time while waiting. They also have a program to give away "destination chargers" to businesses that agree to furnish power to the devices (usually to their customers).

I'm also seeing more and more Electrify America charging stations being installed these days; they're the result of VW's settlement of the Dieselgate lawsuit. Although EV sales reportedly account for only about 4% of the US total these days, that figure is only going to grow substantially over the next decade.