We need to get rid of charging deserts to have more electric vehicles on the road. Charging deserts are significant gaps between charging stations, making it difficult for people with electric cars to travel without running out of battery. So what needs to happen to evenly disperse charging stations across the country?
How can we get more charging stations?
Right now, most charging takes place at home, and the driver ensures they get back home before running out of battery. And public charging stations are clustered around wealthy neighborhoods.
In fact, according to the American Council For an Energy-Efficient Economy, the 20 areas with the most electric vehicle charging stations had a median home price of 800 thousand dollars, more than twice the national average price of a home.
So what can we do to kill charging deserts? Right now, we need roughly 20 times the number of current stations.
Public and private entities are pitching in
And so far, the Biden administration pledged 2.5 billion dollars to give more charging access to quote “underserved and overburdened communities.” 2030 seems to be the goal to have electric cars be the majority of the vehicles on the road, but we don’t know if that goal is realistic.
And private companies are doing what they can to banish charging deserts as well. According to CNBC, GM plans to distribute up to 10 charging stations to each of its electric vehicle dealers. In addition, Tesla is working on opening its charging network to the public, and Ford has the largest charging infrastructure in the market.
Are you on board with EVs?
Having electric vehicles be the norm has obvious positive environmental impacts. We wouldn’t be so reliant on gasoline, which we see nowadays has its expensive faults. And we would severely decrease our carbon footprint. Are you on board with electric vehicles? Are you noticing more charging stations in your area or are you stuck in one of the charging deserts?
