The Biden administration announced that it has secured $700 million in private sector investments to manufacture more than 250,000 new electric vehicle (EV) chargers per year.
The White House released a statement on June 28 and estimates that at least 2,000 high paying jobs will be created as a result of this investment.
“The historic private investments will follow the $7.5 billion from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build a national network of EV chargers, enabling convenient and uniform charging at home, work, and across the country,” the statement read.
Prioritizing green energy has long been a focus of this administration, which is enacting policies to steer the United States toward a goal it set for 100 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2035. Biden has previously set goals for 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030 and net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050.
The global EV market was $411 billion in 2021, and is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by the year 2027. EV owners need to be able to charge those vehicles efficiently. A lack of charging stations could constrain market growth for EVs.
“Today’s announcements demonstrate how the President is catalyzing private investment to boost our domestic manufacturing capacity, enabling America to create a national network of chargers and create thousands of new high-quality, union jobs building, installing, and maintaining it,” the White House said. “Today, the auto industry renaissance continues as the private sector steps up to invest in American-made charging across the country.”
Electrify America, a leading network of fast chargers, is planning to add up to 10,000 ultra-fast chargers at 1,800 charging stations with a new $450 million investment by Siemens and Volkswagen Group. Siemens, which has already created 500 new manufacturing jobs in the EV sector, is planning to add more than one million more EV chargers within the next four years by investing $250 million.
Tesla, owned by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, is expanding manufacturing of components that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers to use the company’s superchargers.
Upgrading EV charging infrastructure comes amid a new partnership with the Department of Transportation and Department of Energy, which recently proposed minimum standards to ensure the nation’s charging network is user-friendly, reliable, accessible to all Americans, interoperable between different charging companies, with similar payment systems, pricing information, and charging speeds.
“To support the transition to electric vehicles, we must build a national charging network that makes finding a charge as easy as filling up at a gas station,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These new ground rules will help create a network of EV chargers across the country that are convenient, affordable, reliable and accessible for all Americans.”
The Energy Department has formed a working group to make recommendations regarding the development and integration of EVs into the nation’s already existing transportation and energy infrastructure.
