Charging Station Locations a Big Obstacle to EVs

host David Schultz. Given how much greenhouse gas emissions come from the tailpipes of cars and trucks, it's no secret that electric vehicles or evs present one of the most significant climate solutions out there right now. It's a point not lost on President Biden and Democrats in Congress, who just passed an infrastructure bill that contained billions of dollars

to build new EV charging stations all across America. The hope is that if you know you don't have to go far to charge up your car, the prospect of trading in a gas guzzler for an EV won't sound as daunting. But as Liliana Byington found out, those charging stations built with the new federal money may not be in the most convenient spaces for road tripping EV drivers.

Liliana is a reporter with our sister news service Bloomberg Government, and she joins us today to talk about this potential snag and about what those billions of dollars in federal funding will actually go to. Yeah, so the Infrastructure Law, which as you mentioned, was enacted in November, included five billion dollars to states over five years. So that's all

going to eb chargers. That money is divided up to states and they just got their allocations for that, so they know how much money they can access from that funding, but they still need to submit a plan to the federal government about how they would use those dollars in order to access them. The Transportation Department and its guidance recommended that they put those chargers as close to the interstate as possible. The Infrastructure Law also included an additional

pot of money for this. It's two point five billion dollars that will be given out in competitive grants, so that will be more of an application process and those would be focused on rural and underserved communities for those chargers. I see. So that's a lot of money. Who's going to be operating these chargers? Is this going to be the states operating? Are we going to have you know, Maryland Electric Vehicle Charging and Arizona Electric vehicle charging or

is this going to be private companies who are running these? Yeah, so a lot of these plans are still being developed, but this money is really intended to kind of spur more private investments. So as it is right now, it's likely that states would hire private companies to install and

operate the chargers. It depends on a lot of how a lot of the states are going to develop their plans, but it really is meant to kind of spur a larger effort, more private money to get into this and to really shift the country towards EVS, which is a big left. Well, there's one problem though, as you just reported recently, these electric vehicle charging stations won't really necessarily be in the ideal locations. Can you talk about this nineteen fifties law that will prevent them from being on

the highway itself? Right? So, federal law limits commerce at interstate rest stops to just things like vending machines, lottery tickets, and tourism promotion. So can I sorry to it's lottery tickets.

Why are lottery tickets allowed? It's unclear why those were the things selected, but the law overall is kind of intended to push business and keep business in the towns and cities where the interstate is close to, so you know, that was really the intention of it, is to get people off those interstates and into the towns and cities. Since the interstate is funded by the federal government, they can force people to get off there, and so that's

where that nineteen fifty six law really came from. That prohibited that commerce on the interstate right of way. And there are some exceptions to the rule, where as you can, like if there's an older rest stop that was you know, not there during when this law was created, then that's fine, which is why you might see still some on the highway.

Also if turnpikes, toll roads. There's there's exceptions to the law, but largely it prohibited this, which is why you know a lot of times you have to pull off to get to a gas station. And although there was you know, pushed to change this in the Infrastructure law, it was not changed and so this nineteen fifty six restriction is still in place. Wow, so bad for drivers, but good for the towns that are near highways that can get

the dollars from those drivers. So you mentioned that there was a push to get an exemption for EV charging stations that in this bill that you know, they could pee among the lottery tickets and vending machines. That ultimately didn't happen. Why didn't that happen? Why was that unsuccessful? Yeah, So some lawmakers and evy groups were pushing to have this restriction changed in the infrastructure law, but of course it didn't make it in and I think, you know,

part of that was the opposition. There are groups that represent fuel retailers that have opposed this because, you know, they say that changing the ban on commercial services at these rest stops would hurt private investment. So that would kind of box out fuel retailers who aren't on the interstate and it would hurt, they argue, hurt the private sector from trying to get involved. They want to get in,

they'll they'll likely try to install EV chargers as well. Oh, I see, they want the EV charging stations on their own gas stations, not on the rest stops. Right. They think that the optimal place for EV chargers would be where people are already refueling, which would also help their

businesses since they are already in those locations. So let's talk about how big of a deal this is, because I'm thinking about you know, when I take road trips, uh, you know, sometimes I have to exit the freeway to find some a gas station, and you know, I drive around a little bit. It's a little annoying, but I eventually I find it, but it's ultimately not a huge deal. Is this going to be ultimately at most a minor inconvenience for electric car drivers or is this could this

be a bigger deal? Yeah, I think that that answer really depends on who you're asking. You know, I've I've talked to evy groups and proponents of this that say that it'll only be more of a deterrent when people have range anxiety concerns. Already, the federal government's try and encourage these chargers to be as close to the highway as possible, but because they're trying to shift the larger

public opinion around getting people in these cars. But you know, if you talk to fuel retaillers and others who say, you know, it shouldn't be a problem if they just have to pull off, like you mentioned, you know, there's there's kind of different opinions. So it's kind of a wait and see if this really effects the way that they're doing it or if they decide to change it. And I'm glad you brought up the term range anxiety,

and let's dig into that a little bit. That's the idea that you know, you're driving your electric car and you know your battery's running out and there's nowhere to refuel it. It seems like that's a big impediment to people buying electric cars, right, Yeah, So I think that people are starting to get more comfortable with them as

the vehicles have gotten better at their range. But that's the whole intent behind this money and behind you know, the Buiden administrations push to get out five hundred thousand chargers within the next decade across the country is to kind of quell that. So I think that that is kind of why whether or not this works will determine,

you know, the prolifilation of these vehicles. So definitely, FILS think that there are a lot of people concerned about it and hesitant, but they're you know, other concerns with costs and and all kinds of things. When it comes to the questions still remaining around Davis, Well, that's why it's so interesting because it's like almost a Chicken or the egg kind of situation in that people won't buy electric cars if they're not confident they can charge it

at a communian location. But then people won't buy charging stations if there aren't enough electric cars to justify the demand.

So I guess that's what the Biden administration is trying to do here, is to just sort of create the supply so the demand will follow, right, Yeah, Yeah, I think that that was a big intent behind getting a good amount of money in the infrastructure law, is to kind of push this jump start a lot of this investment in places that aren't already seeing some more evs, like California, and really push it to other parts of

the country. If you get that federal dollars there, you hope that you push more private dollars that then gets people comfortable and seeing these chargers in more places. But finally, you know, talking about creating demand, there are other governments

out there that are creating demand. And what I mean by that is that several states now have passed laws that would ban the sale of gas power vehicles sometime within the next ten to fifteen years, and specifically New York and California of both pass these laws, which would mean that electric vehicles are going to become kind of the only option at the dealership in the twenty thirties or you know, at some point around then. Are we

ready for that? Are we ready for a situation where there's just going to be a huge increase in the number of electric vehicles on the road in ten years or so. Yeah, I think that's something we still are kind of we don't know. We don't know whether the policies are ready for that, since we just haven't seen

it yet. I think that there are still a lot of questions that people bring up around the electric grid and the capabilities of that, and more rural areas and agricultural producers have brought up concerns about whether this is right for their areas, and so we're kind of seeing a lot of questions that are still unanswered and just

things that we don't know. Like you mentioned, there are states that are charging ahead on this, charging ahead there you go, that are moving quickly ahead on this, and so I think that we'll end up seeing whether or not that the policies are ready as we see more of this expansion move forward. So I think that those questions and whether or not the policies are ready will be answered in that as we see it spread. All right, Well, that was Lily on a buyington with Vika speaking to

us about electric vehicles living on it. Thank you so much for talking. Thanks so much, David. That'll do it for today's episode of Parts Pavilion. It was produced by myself, David Schultz, and Cheryl Signs. Our editors are Chuck McCutcheon and Rebecca Baker, and our executive producer is Josh Block. Reach out to us on Twitter if you have anything on your mind, we use the handle at Environment. Thanks

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