US approves EV charging stations for US highways

The US Transportation DepartmentUS Transportation Department said on Tuesday it approved electric vehicle charging station plans for all 50 states, Washington and Puerto Rico, covering about 120,700 kms of highways.

The November 2021 US $1 trillion infrastructure bill provides US $5 billion for states to install EV chargers along interstate highways over five years. The USDOT said that the states have access to more than US $1.5 billion to build EV chargers. The White House announced earlier this month that it had approved 35 of the 50 state plans.

The Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. didn't respond to a request for comment on how many charging stations the funds would support.

We need to make sure that they meet basic standards, but we are not going to dictate to the states how to do this, according to Pete Buttigieg, US Transportation Secretary.

The USDOT said states should fund DC Fast Chargers, stations should have at least four ports capable of charging four EVs and installing EV charging infrastructure every 80.5 kms along interstate highways and be within 1.6 km of highways.

Federal funds will cover 80 per cent of the EV charging costs, with private or state funds making up the balance.

By 2030, President Joe Biden wants to have 50 per cent of all new vehicles sold to electric or plug-in hybrid electric models and 500,000 new EV charging stations, and he has not endorsed phasing out new gasoline-powered vehicle sales by 2035.

California's Air Resources Board voted to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be electric or plug-in electric hybrids, a move that could speed up the end of gasoline-powered vehicles, but must be approved by the Biden administration before it can take effect.

California will allow automakers to sell up to 20 percent of their 2035 models as plug-in hybrids.