It's getting easier to find a charger for your electric car
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The number of public electric vehicle chargers doubled over the last four years, driven by a combination of increased private investment and a surge in government funding under the Biden administration.
Why it matters: EVs and charging have been a chicken-and-egg-problem that's now getting a little easier.
- People won't buy an electric car unless they're confident they have somewhere to charge it.
- Companies won't invest in charging infrastructure without enough EV owners to plug in.
By the numbers: There are more than 207,000 publicly available EV charging ports in the U.S. today — up from around 95,000 when Biden took office in January 2021.
- That figure tracks with what Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told a House committee last May. Republicans earlier had complained about delays.
- It includes 38,000 new chargers — both DC fast-chargers and slower, Level 2 chargers — that were turned on in 2024, according to the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation.
Yes, but: Charging might be getting easier — but the U.S. is still far short of the estimated 1.2 million public chargers that a National Renewable Energy Laboratory report says will be needed by 2030 to support expected EV sales.
The big picture: Spurring a switch from gasoline-powered cars to battery-electric vehicles has been a key part of President Biden's climate agenda.
- He pushed a variety of policies — consumer EV tax credits, manufacturing incentives for carmakers and tougher tailpipe emissions laws — with the intent to make EVs account for 50% of new car sales by 2030.
- He also targeted 500,000 public chargers by 2030 — a goal supported, in part, by $7.5 billion allocated by Congress under the bipartisan infrastructure act.
Reality check: Electric vehicles sales are growing, but far off the expected pace.
- Only 8.1% of new car sales in 2024 were EVs, according to Cox Automotive. Still, that's a record 1.3 million EVs sold.
- Momentum was stronger in the second half, with EVs accounting for 8.7% of total sales.
- A flood of new, more affordable models could help keep that going — even if President-elect Trump kills the consumer tax credits as expected.
At least charging access is improving, and not just because Tesla opened its Supercharger network to other brands.
- GM Energy, for example, has opened more than 2,500 fast-charging stalls in partnership with EVgo and Pilot Flying J, and recently announced plans to add 500 more with ChargePoint by the end of this year.
- IONNA, the charging network founded by eight big automakers, is starting to roll out the first of 30,000 charging points by 2030.
- Electrify America added 600 new chargers in 2024, and replaced 1,000 others, bringing its network to more than 4,700.
Taxpayer-funded chargers have been slow to open, but the snags are mostly due to state and local issues like permitting, utility upgrades and in some cases, politics.
- The federal government has already shelled out $4.5 billion to support about 25,000 chargers, but only 200 have opened so far.
- Since that money's already been allocated to the states, the rest are still expected to open in the next year or two, even if Trump slows down Biden's EV policies.
Where it stands: As of Oct. 31, drivers in 61% of the most heavily trafficked corridors could access a charger every 50 miles, up from 38% in 2021, Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk told Axios Pro Energy Policy. (subscribe here)
Editor's note: Cox Automotive and Axios are both owned by Cox Enterprises.
