By 2025, Electrify America Plans To Quadruple Number Of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

SILVER SPRING, Md. — Electrify America, an electric car charging network supported by money paid by Volkswagen as retaliation for its emissions-cheating scandal, has announced intentions to more than increase the number of charging stations across the US and Canada.

The expansion, which will include 1,800 fast-charging stations and 10,000 individual chargers by 2025, is part of Electrify America’s prior pledge to invest $2 billion in EV infrastructure, education, and access in the United States over a 10-year period.

Automobile manufacturers have increased manufacturing of electric vehicles that can go further and charge faster, but they are afraid that buyers interested in EVs will wait until charging infrastructure improves.

The current generation of electric vehicles can take power at a considerably quicker pace than earlier models, with many having ranges of over 300 miles (480 kilometers) per charge, but most charging stations can’t keep up with the vehicles’ sophisticated technology.

According to the Department of Energy, there are around 42,000 public charging stations in the United States, although only about 5,000 are classified as direct-current fast chargers. To completely charge longer-range batteries, the rest will take about eight hours.

President Joe Biden’s administration will have to consider the increased cost of fast-charging stations when it designs incentives to entice firms and municipalities to install additional charging stations. By 2030, the administration hopes to have 500,000 charging stations across the country.

Electrify America’s growth strategy includes new states like Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Vermont, as well as existing states like North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Vermont. Electrify America says the additions expand its network to 49 states and the District of Columbia. It also intends to build a new electric car charging route in the “upper Midwest,” though it did not specify where.

Since opening its first charging station in May 2018, the Reston, Virginia-based firm claims to have erected four stations each week on average.