Could the EV Superhighway become a reality?

EV Charging Station, photo courtesy of Oregon Dept. of Transportation, flickr

Electric vehicles are cool. Secretly a lot of us would love to own one. But a few factors stand in the way. For many, cost is a big consideration .And because we Americans love to travel by car, the toughest factor that keeps many from splurging on an electric vehicle is that there aren’t enough EV charging stations to make long distance travel easy.

But this problem could be in the process of changing.

The National EV Charging Initiative, a group of associations representing automakers, utilities, labor unions, investors and public interest groups, is working together to bring about the construction of this nation’s electric-vehicle charging network.

“We are driving together toward the future we want and need, delivering the charging network that will allow the transition to zero-emitting vehicles,” said Max Baumhefner, a senior attorney at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).

The new bipartisan infrastructure bill would invest $7.5 billion into putting charge points along highways and in disadvantaged communities. Private companies, meanwhile, have already installed more than 100,000 public charging stations, and investor-owned utilities are investing $3 billion to deploy many more.

“With new federal and private investments – and breakthroughs in battery technology – range anxiety should soon go the way of the horse-drawn carriage,” Baumhefner said.

We may not have the much longed-for EV superhighway this year. But the possibility of this certainly is a lot closer than ever before. And that makes buying an electric vehicle a lot more attractive.