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NEW STANDARDS AND GRANTS RELEASED FOR EV CHARGING NETWORK

2/27/23

On Wednesday, 2/15/2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new standards and updates aimed at creating a more reliable electric vehicle (EV) charging network across the USA, through the deployment of 500,000 EV chargers along U.S. highways throughout the nation. As part of the announcement, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) detailed its soon-to-launch Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) discretionary grant program that will make available more than $2.5 billion over five years to deploy publicly accessible charging in communities across the country.

The standards announced include expanded-upon requirements for use of federal funds, including (1) final assembly and all steel manufacturing processes to occur in the U.S., with 55% of the cost of all components to be manufactured domestically by July 2024, (2) new charging sites to have a minimum number of DC fast chargers, (3) all chargers to support the Combined Charging System plug standards, (4) chargers to have minimum up-time guarantees of 97% of the time, and (5) compatibility with user-friendly tech like the “Plug and Charge” payment automation.

In partnership, major companies including Tesla, Ford, General Motors (GM), Hertz/bp, and others have also announced new commitments to expand their networks of public charging ports, using private funds to complement federal dollars and bring the USA’s EV charging goals even closer within reach. A few of the spotlighted announcements include:

Tesla: to open 7,500+ of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla EVs & double its full nationwide network of Superchargers manufactured in New York
Ford: to install least one public-facing DC Fast charger with two ports at 1,920 Ford dealerships by January 2024
GM: to install up to 40,000 public Level 2 EV chargers in local communities by 2026
Hertz & bp: to build rideshare and public EV fast-charging infrastructure at Hertz locations across America & make one-quarter of Hertz’s fleet electric by the end of 2024