In the United States, the federal government is about to provide a remedy for electric car owners who are tired of the often damaged and confusing charging experience. The U.S. Department of Transportation will allocate $100 million to “repair and replace existing but non-functioning electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.” The investment comes from $7.5 billion in EV charging funding approved by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021. The department has approved about $1 billion to install thousands of new electric vehicle chargers along major U.S. highways.
Damage to electric vehicle chargers remains a major obstacle to widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Many electric vehicle owners told JD Power in a survey earlier this year that damaged electric vehicle chargers often affect the experience of using an electric vehicle. According to the market research firm, overall satisfaction with electric vehicle charging in the United States has declined year over year and is now at an all-time low.
Even Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg has struggled to find a usable electric car charger. According to the Wall Street Journal, Battigieg had trouble charging his family’s hybrid pickup truck. We’ve definitely had that experience, “Battigieg told the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Department of Energy’s public electric vehicle Charger database, about 6,261 of the 151,506 public charging ports were reported as “temporarily unavailable,” or 4.1 percent of the total. Chargers are deemed temporarily unavailable for a variety of reasons, ranging from routine maintenance to electrical issues.
The new funds will likely be used to pay for repairs or replacement of “all eligible items,” the U.S. Department of Transportation said, adding that the funds will be released through a “streamlined application process” and include both public and private chargers -” as long as they are available to the public without restrictions.”
Post time: Sep-22-2023