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Well, well, well. It’s Wednesday again, and your favorite dot.LA EV reporter is back from vacation. And boy let me tell you, there aren’t too many electric vehicles in Greece yet. Just a whole bunch of gasoline-powered scooters…and sardines. I think I saw more EVs in 15 minutes waiting for the bus outside of LAX than I saw in 2+ weeks in Greece and Italy. Though I did see an electric Smart Car parked on the sidewalk in Rome. Neat!
Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that California is among the world leaders in EV adoption, and it’s easy to forget how far ahead the state is until you leave. But never fear, the Biden-Harris administration is here to remind us of all the progress the country is making.
In a fact sheet released last week, the White House claims that Biden’s leadership has spurred massive private investment in the sector and highlights a few Californian companies leading the charge. Let’s break it down by the numbers.
$7.5 billion: The total fraction of Biden’s infrastructure bill earmarked for charger expansion.
$700 million: The total amount of private investment in the EV charging space.
50%: The fraction of new car sales that the administration hopes will be electric by 2030.
This is certainly not a new number from the Biden administration, but their commitment to it suggests that the White House either still thinks that the milestone is attainable or still thinks there’s political advantage in its repetition.
The number seems very optimistic from where I sit mostly due to how persistent and painful the country's supply chain issues remain. Right now, only about 4.5% of new car sales are electric. While that number has been steadily accelerating, manufacturers are more often in the headlines for falling short of production targets and raising prices rather than meeting or exceeding goals. If there’s any chance at reaching such a lofty target, it feels like there needs to be a big reversal soon.
250,000: The number of new EV chargers the United States should be able to manufacture and install each year.
The Biden administration has previously stated that they hope to get 500,000 chargers installed along America’s highways as part of the infrastructure bill, and other industry experts have calculated that the country might need as many as 1 million total chargers by 2030 to service the ever growing fleet of EVs. The new fact sheet does give concrete timelines for when the country will reach this 250,000 charger per year manufacturing capacity, but as long as it comes before 2031, the country may be able to meet demand…assuming it can also keep them running.
2,000: The number of new jobs created to install, service, and operate the expanding network.
The fact sheet then breaks those numbers down a little bit more granularly. The details paint a picture of a country seeking to standardize charging infrastructure while making sure business goes–at least in part–to American workers or companies as per the Buy American Act. Tucked away towards the bottom the administration also announced that “Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers.” This is actually a pretty big deal because until this point, Tesla has limited their Supercharger access to Tesla vehicles. The winds, they are a-shifting. More numbers now:
$450 million: A newly announced investment in Electrify America from Siemens and Volkswagen Group that will “support the rapid deployment of up to 10,000 ultra-fast chargers at 1,800 charging stations.”
1 million+: The number of charging stations that Siemens is slated to build states side over the next four years thanks to $250 million of investment into expanding their manufacturing sites in Grand Prairie, TX and Pomona, CA.
20,000: The combined number of DCFC and Level 2 charging stations (10k of each) that Chargepoint will be able to produce by 2026 thanks to an expanded partnership with SMTC Corporation—a move that the White House says will add 250 new manufacturing jobs.
30,000: The number of chargers to be provided by FLO, a Canadian company that recently announced a $3 million investment to build an assembly facility in Auburn, Michigan, which should provide 730 jobs and $76 million to the state’s economy.
30,000 (again): The number of chargers we can expect annually from Tritium, an Australian company with a manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Tennessee that may employ up to 500 new workers.
$250,000: The amount of money committed by philanthropies, including the Hewlett Foundation, for training women and workers of color for the EVITP-certification.
That’s a lot of moving and shaking—and there are even more details in the fact sheet if your eyes haven’t already glazed over. — David Shultz
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What We’re Reading Elsewhere...
- Triller calls for a belated Independence Day from TikTok.
- With a billion hours watched, "Stranger Things" officially becomes Netflix's second most popular show.
- Blizzard new-ish president Mike Ybarra "calmly answered questions for 45 minutes." Progress?
- After some initial tech glitches, a relieved NASA reconnects with a "happy and healthy" CAPSTONE.
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