Podcast: Accelerating charging infrastructure to meet our 2030 climate goals

The automotive industry recognizes the need for more electric vehicles, but more EV charging infrastructure is required to make that adoption occur at scale. In this podcast, Cory Bullis, U.S. Senior Public Affairs Specialist at FLO, and Britta Gross, Managing Director, Mobility at Rocky Mountain Institute, speak with Justin Honore on what needs to occur to meet the climate goals for 2030 set by President Biden.

Key points

• States and regions most successful in deploying charging infrastructure have forward-thinking policies.
• People need to perceive EV charging as a convenient experience.
• Funding tied to performance metrics will ensure a consistent experience across EV stations.

Listen to the podcast here:

Policy at the state level was a key driver to building up EV charging infrastructure, but even more critical was the reliability of said infrastructure.

“It’s one of the single most important things to drive EV adoption,” Bullis said. “Drivers and consumers want to know that they can depend on reliable charging stations or reliable public infrastructure.”

The industry knows most of EV charging will occur either at home or at the workplace. “That being said, the most important way to accelerate this market is we’ve got to step up our public fast-charging network. It’s a thing that will drive confidence across Americans,” said Gross.

The U.S. federal government is beginning to invest in EVs, with $5 billion allocated towards EV infrastructure efforts. Bullis said these steps were a good start, but only a down payment on the type of investment required to make EV at scale a reality, “We’re going to need many longer-term signals going out to 2030 to ensure we hit the 2030 targets.”

Although there is a long way to go, Gross was optimistic regarding the future as signals from the federal government could make country-wide EV stations the norm. “I was excited that they viewed this as a national network and not just a bunch of little projects that get strung together again,” Gross said.