The Wall Street Journal comments on The Politicized EV Charger ‘Revolution’
The government rollout of EV chargers has been a slow-motion affair, and as you’d expect the reason is politics. The feds are throwing billions of dollars to build charging stations, but they’ve added social-justice and union mandates that make the build-out more complicated than necessary.
It’s the latest payout from $7.5 billion in funding from the 2021 infrastructure spending blowout. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke of handing out the money as a triumph in itself; “We have a chance to lead the world in the EV revolution.”
But the revolution’s been a long time coming. Despite the $2 billion of subsidies already authorized, only two federally funded stations have opened.
The bureaucrats are getting in their own way. The FHWA issued a rule requiring that workers for most projects be certified by the electricians union, or another government-approved training program.
States have also blasted the program for its lack of flexibility. Florida’s Transportation Department said projects were stifled by guidance that stations be 50 miles apart. Pennsylvania lamented restrictions on building stations with fewer than four charging ports. Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming all begged for relief from the Buy America requirement for steel and iron components, which the agency waived temporarily last year.
The latest funding comes with rules that will make sure charging station customers are even scarcer than workers. Half of the grant money is set aside for “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment,” which by the agency’s description includes Alaskan and Arizonan Indian tribes and urban parks and libraries.
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Half of the money will be spent where no one can afford an EV.
More on the EV market here.
The government rollout of EV chargers has been a slow-motion affair, and as you’d expect the reason is politics. The feds are throwing billions of dollars to build charging stations, but they’ve added social-justice and union mandates that make the build-out more complicated than necessary.
It’s the latest payout from $7.5 billion in funding from the 2021 infrastructure spending blowout. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke of handing out the money as a triumph in itself; “We have a chance to lead the world in the EV revolution.”
But the revolution’s been a long time coming. Despite the $2 billion of subsidies already authorized, only two federally funded stations have opened.
The bureaucrats are getting in their own way. The FHWA issued a rule requiring that workers for most projects be certified by the electricians union, or another government-approved training program.
States have also blasted the program for its lack of flexibility. Florida’s Transportation Department said projects were stifled by guidance that stations be 50 miles apart. Pennsylvania lamented restrictions on building stations with fewer than four charging ports. Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming all begged for relief from the Buy America requirement for steel and iron components, which the agency waived temporarily last year.
The latest funding comes with rules that will make sure charging station customers are even scarcer than workers. Half of the grant money is set aside for “disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment,” which by the agency’s description includes Alaskan and Arizonan Indian tribes and urban parks and libraries.
****
Half of the money will be spent where no one can afford an EV.
More on the EV market here.
