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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSeven major automakers say they’re joining forces to build a North American electric vehicle charging network that would rival Tesla’s and nearly double the number of fast-charging plugs in the U.S. and Canada.
General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Stellantis said Wednesday that they will share in a multi-billion dollar investment to build “high power” charging stations with 30,000 plugs in urban areas and along travel corridors.
The dramatic move is intended to speed the adoption of electric vehicles, allaying fears that chargers won’t be available for long distance travel.
The companies wouldn’t disclose the exact number of charging stations or financial details of the joint venture they’re forming to put the network in place. While they said the first of the chargers will be ready by next summer, they also would not say how long it will take to build the entire network.
The automakers said in a joint statement Wednesday that they want to build the “leading network” of reliable high-powered charging stations in North America.
“The parties have agreed not to disclose specific investment numbers at this time, but the seven founding automakers intend to work as equals to ensure the success of the joint venture,” the companies said in a written statement answering questions from The Associated Press. “As you can imagine, such a high-powered charging network of this scale requires a multi-billion dollar investment.”
There are currently just under 8,700 direct-current fast-charging stations in the U.S. and Canada with nearly 36,000 charging plugs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Fast chargers can get a battery to 80% of its capacity in 20 minutes to one hour, making them optimal for travel corridors and in some cases comparable to a gasoline fill-up. They’re much quicker than 240-volt “Level 2” chargers that can take hours to get a battery to a full charge.
The new network is expected to have 10 to 20 charging plugs per station, meaning there would be a minimum of 1,500 stations and a maximum of about 3,000.
Tesla’s network, with the largest number of fast chargers in North America, has 2,050 stations and more than 22,000 plugs in the U.S. and Canada, the DOE says.
The network formed by the seven automakers would be public and open to all electric vehicle owners. It will have connectors for both Tesla’s North American Charging Standard plugs as well as the Combined Charging System plugs used by other automakers.
The automakers will seek to use U.S. government funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law to help pay for the network.
“This joint venture will be a critical step in accelerating EV adoption across the U.S. and Canada, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said in a statement.
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Yep, taking up to an hour to charge my vehicle, let alone the other dozen in front/back of mine is a real incentive to buy an EV.
Picture the traffic on I-465 on any given day. And all of those vehicles need to find a charging station.
All this while AEP and Duke Energy ask homeowners to opt into a program that allows them to turn off our home AC units to save energy. Electric grid is woefully prepared for this.
Another well thought out Federal Government initiative. NOT
Why so pessimistic? When your EV is out of juice, just leave it on the road and catch a Red Line bus – always reliably empty!
Tony C.
+1
All those vehicles are generally commuters whose vehicles can charge overnight and they can leave in the morning with fully charged batteries that will have enough range for their daily commute.
You have a valid point for when people are driving multiple hundreds of miles at a time and whose vehicles don’t have that range. That’s not the bulk of driving you’re seeing on 465, though.
But as crowded as airports are these days, I think most people are flying.
Curious how we are going to fund the roads when the EV are not paying for the gas tax?
Or also what will we do when the first wave of EV’s need to be scrapped. Or better yet, when you want to keep your EV and the replacement battery costs $12,000
This is a great point. I have not heard this addressed by anyone at the state or federal level.
Indiana already has a surcharge for EVs at time of registration to make up for gas tax revenue losses.
Interesting no one is talking about the fact that the US Govt is stepping into the market and making it an unfair playing field against Tesla. I’m guessing this is what came out of the EV meeting at the White House a few weeks ago where Tesla was conspicuously uninvited. If the White House can put its thumb on the scales of the open market for this industry, what would stop it from doing the same for some banks (but not all), or some insurance companies (but not all), etc etc. It’s just wrong.
It sounds like Tesla doesn’t want to play nice with the others. There should be a standard charging plug, just like a standard gas filling hole size. Lets face it, EV is the future, but still a lot to learn. I’m sticking to gas for the near future, but a network for charging will change that.
In school, 20 years ago, we learned about smart highways, that was similar to a track. I can see highways becoming charging roads to keep cars charged while driving cross-country.
Tesla has received plenty of government money so far and they’re in line for more by opening up their network to competitors.
110 years ago I told everyone that switching from horse & buggy to gas cars was never going to work. People could only go as far as a tank of gas, then what? Who was going to build a bunch of gas stations everywhere? Where would we get all that gas? Craziness. Glad to see I lived long enough to say I told you so. Those hair-brained gas cars are finally getting replaced by these electric buggies. I knew the gas auto-mobile would never work!
Bingo. People need to think bigger and longer-term. The charging networks and infrastructures will iron them self’s out over time as systems are built out. What happens with battery tech takes another jump higher (solid state batteries). It’s going to leave an ICE in the dust forever. NOBODY will need to buy an ICE vehicle at that point, and it’s coming soon. Most researchers are saying in <10 years.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/19/2022-00883/building-a-better-grid-initiative-to-upgrade-and-expand-the-nations-electric-transmission-grid-to
No one has mentioned the cost and hassle of wiring in two home chargers, if one’s service panel will even accommodate the additional loads. I don’t believe folks will rely entirely on outside chargers.
All this is why I’m buying a hybrid now and waiting on full-electric…there are still gas stations at almost every highway exit.
And most of all; WHERE ARE WE GOING TO GET THE POWER? Nothing and I repeat nothing is being done to create the added power resources necessary to power all these EV’s. Nuclear, both conventional and Thorium reactors should be getting built to accommodate the environmentalists concern about carbon emissions and provide the necessary power that solar and wind can NEVER provide. Without this, coal, oil and gas will be the generators of power and defeat the entire reason for having Electrical Vehicles. That is where the automakers should be putting their money, not a “charging network.”
+1 for nuclear.