After Joe Biden’s statement about clean cars and trucks on August 5, 2021, the Federal Government announced that they will begin a 5 billion dollar project which spans for over five years.
The overall project is to create charging stations for every 50 miles nationwide. The first phase of this project focuses on the Interstate Highway System, mandating each state to provide charging stations that can accommodate at least 4 EVs simultaneously at 150kW.
Only after the states have complied will they be able to apply for grants to fill gaps elsewhere.
According to Ars Technica, the government has allocated $615 million for the construction of the charging station and $300 million to set up a Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. This office is also in charge of overseeing the development of this project to its completion.
This program promotes Biden’s plan on EVs and to create a series of 500,000 charging stations nationwide. Once phase one is complete, another $2.5 billion for discretionary grants will be used for building charging stations in rural and underserved areas.
The government also mandates that at least one charging port per station must be working more than 97% of the time.
Can Tesla Use These Charging Ports: Tesla Adapter
The government’s project uses a Combined Charging System also known as CCS, which is used for a majority of EVs aside from the Tesla. However, Tesla has long announced that they were developing adapters so that their cars can freely use fast charging nationwide and overseas.
Sadly this is not free nor is it available just yet.
According to Electrek in 2021 Tesla has announced that they have distributed adapters to the South Korean and European markets. Unfortunately, the status of the North American market is still unclear.
From what Tesla announced, the price of the adapter is $250, and it enables other EVs to use the Tesla superchargers.
What About Payment?
The payment method is also heavily debated by the government.
Payment is one of the main problems that is slowing production as there is no perfect way to manage the finances with fast charging. They are highly aware of the inconveniences and are looking for a mutually beneficial manner of payment for all.
Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, explicitly said “part of this program is going to be a shared standard. If we’re going to use taxpayers’ dollars to help private actors put in charging stations, then, of course, we need to make sure the citizen is getting good value out of it,” per Arstechnica.
He also said, “there may be any number of network benefits through loyalty programs. That’s fine, but we’ve got to make sure… everybody can benefit.”
One of the solutions that the government sees is to put credit card readers on each charging station.
Another is the implementation of ISO 15118 or the “plug-and-charge.” This is essentially the communication between electric vehicles and the charging station, which regulates what kind of chargers are to be used and how much load each charger can take.
Keyword: US EV Infrastructure Plan Revealed: 5 Billion Nationwide Fast Charging Project