In fact, the federal government has asked states applying for public charger funding to submit plans detailing how they will support the new workforce to serve them. “One of the biggest things we’re really excited about is the continued emphasis on reliability,” said Walter Thorn, head of product at ChargerHelp, which provides operations and maintenance services to charging companies and governments. The company is working with the Society of Automotive Engineers, an international standards body, to identify the skills needed to maintain chargers and create certification for them. This is the first step in training more EV charger repairers.
construction austerity
At the same time, a large number of chargers need to go underground. EVGo, one of the largest charging companies in the U.S., says it now has more than 4,500 chargers in its engineering and construction pipeline, the most in its more than ten-year history. Now, the process of installing new chargers can take years.
Some of the delay comes down to one important but snoozy issue: Allow. Fast chargers that can fully charge a car battery in an hour require a lot of construction work. The process of driving them into the ground varies from place to place—requiring coordination with the utility company, digging trenches, and then installing the equipment.
But experts say the process of obtaining a license can be very different in each jurisdiction or city. Charging companies are calling for a streamlined process that works in many different places — for example, there could be automated reviews for local safety and regulatory compliance, which the Energy Department built when it funded similar solar panel projects.
Meanwhile, shortages of electrical equipment, especially transformers, have persisted during the pandemic. “There’s a reason you need to start early,” Matt Horton, chief executive of charging company Voltera, said in an interview last year. Even the most well-planned chargers take longer to get up and running than many governments or EV owners think.
sustainable efforts
If the Great American Charging Project is to succeed, companies need to know that there will be money to charge electric vehicles once the current feast of federal funding is over. While it’s clear that at some point EVs will become commonplace enough that charging them might be a good thing, exactly when and how is unclear.
Companies that build or operate charging networks worry about competition from monopolistic utilities that can build their own chargers and, in some states, charging station operators provide more electricity during peak demand periods. There are also concerns that, despite huge U.S. government spending, there may not be enough public money to turn around.
Chargers have high fixed upfront costs, including real estate acquisition and construction. In places where EVs are relatively rare, it can take a long time to pay back the investment. The climate bill requires states to build chargers every 50 miles of highway, regardless of local EV traffic. “Some help is needed,” Jamie Hall, GM’s senior strategist for electric vehicle policy, said at an industry event in December. “The business case for fast charging in motorway corridors today may be tough.”
Some more optimistic industry watchers see this as a short-term problem that can be resolved within the next five years or so — and before public funding runs out. Rocky Mountain Institute analyst Mulaney said a lot of investment money is flowing to charging companies. The idea is that companies that can build charging infrastructure now and get drivers used to using it can profit from their loyalty for decades to come. “We’re approaching an inflection point where public charging will both be genuinely needed and start to make money,” he said. In other words, hard work can pay off.
