Thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, there’s more than $60 billion available for grid transportation investment.
Plus, $5 billion is earmarked for state grants to help establish high-capacity charging stations on every highway in the United States, and an additional $2 billion for community charging. [bold, links added]
The hope, according to Alex Schroeder, executive lead at the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, is to eliminate range anxiety and change consumer behavior when it comes to buying vehicles.
That will help facilitate a rapid transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EV), Schroeder said.
However, at a panel discussion at the 2022 Nation Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) on the “Promise and Challenges of Electric Vehicles,” State Rep. Steven Galloway (R-Mont.) pointed out potential issues.
“Lifecycle the batteries, seven to 10 years. What are we gonna do? Talking to the recyclers, it’s a big issue.”
Galloway stated that currently, 100 percent of ICE vehicles are recycled. But the same isn’t true for electric vehicles (EVs).
“Right now, most [EVs] are just piling up and nobody wants to touch them. It’s causing fires at home, you know, there are different issues that really aren’t publicized.”
Galloway also said that in Montana, there’s not enough wind or solar to provide energy for the type of integration the federal government is planning.
He said that it gets frigid in Montana, and cold significantly impacts battery life. He wanted to know what solutions if any, the federal government had for these problems.
End-Market Use (It’s Being Looked At)
State Sen. Faith Winter (D-Colo.), a panelist for the session, responded that in her state, legislators were starting to look at end-market use for EVs.
“We’re behind frankly, but it’s one of the areas that we’re trying to catch up on and create that in the market so that [EVs] aren’t just sitting around. They aren’t the vehicles no one wants.”
Schroeder added, “There is a lot of effort, particularly in the Department of Energy (DOE) right now … to support the evolution of that supply chain looking at the back end of that, certainly. Second use and recycling are being looked at at the federal level, but it’s going to take evolution to deal with this issue.”
State Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-Fla.) added, “[Recycling] it’s a multi-billion dollar industry. … [Private] individuals are making investments to figure out the recycling piece, and that will be solved. I have no doubt about it.
In regards to the cold and lack of certain renewables, Schroeder said grid resiliency was an aspect the federal government was examining and that the future grid would need to be “responsive and flexible.”
He said the federal government plans to acknowledge the diversity of clean resources and utilize them. He did not specify how.
Wide-Ranging Impact
During the 2022 NCSL legislators summit, there were several themed tracks for lawmakers and their aids. Health and Human Services, Criminal Justice and Law, Elections, and Redistricting, were just a few.
But arguably the most attended was Energy, Environment and Transportation.
Indeed, most sessions on energy resulted in packed rooms and people lining the walls. Considering transportation impacts most constituents, legislators’ interest in this issue is unsurprising.
Further leading to the enhanced interest is the Biden administration’s uncompromising push to increase EV adoption.
Schroeder pointed to a post on Twitter by Vice President Kamala Harris: “The future of transportation in our nation and around the world is electric.”
[In Europe and elsewhere, the future of transportation is natural gas hybrid ICE vehicles. Not electric. They are lying to you because most people have no idea what’s going on in other parts of the world. —CCD Ed.]
In response, Schroeder said the DOE and other transportation agencies were “full steam ahead with EVs. It is the future of transportation.”
Schroeder added that as of Aug. 1, all 50 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico, had submitted an EV integration plan to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula program.
The states’ compliance will help speed the Biden administration’s plan to install four 150kW DC fast chargers every 50 miles along the interstate, Schroeder concluded.
Read more at Epoch Times
Like most complex challenges, one size does NOT fit all. I have no doubt that battery range & recycling will continue to improve as time passes, but I don’t think the evidence supports that any major transition to EV’s will be nearly as fast & EASY as some folks think. Out here in the western U.S, you have vast distances to cover. You also have sub-zero temperatures in winter. Maybe a compact EV makes sense for a 10 mile commute in a major city, but it will be a while before you’ll get a dependable battery that will give you 400 miles of range in a day when it never gets above ZERO. Rather than the government picking “winners & losers” & dictating the allocation of critical (and often) limited resources, I’d suggest that the market & consumer preferences would be a lot more sensible. I think history will support that contention, as well…
I wonder if those 150kW fast charger locations will be equipped with automatic fire suppression systems.
I hope that the EV bus fire issue is resolved before the first EV school buses go into service.
Why use a photo of a fire from Dongguan, China to promote your story and American policies and EV? Its disingenuous.
I’m sure that the availability of charging station will improve but there will always be some locations where electric vehicles are not feasible.
One thing that will be changing is the ability of the power grid to support electric vehicles. I believe it was Texas that recently asked EV owners not to charge their vehicles.
There are limitations of electric vehicles that many are not aware of. An electric Ford 150 pulling a camper trailer capable of sleeping eight was found to have only 90 miles of range. That is the same as a gasoline version with four gallons of gas. There may never be enough charging stations to support that kind of use.
If the US government was actually concerned they would have spent money on the power grid first and then gradually implement building EV’s while hammering out the details of end of use problems, recycling rare minerals etc during this time.
However since they want to destroy the USA they have moved in a way that would have made the Three Stooges proud. Being in the USA is like being a passenger in an airplane with a set of pilots that you know are hell bent on crashing the plane but they are the only ones with parachutes.
The sad thing is that the liberals believe they are working on the power grid. This is in the form of billions of dollars going to wind and solar power. They are not smart enough to know that low density and unreliable energy can’t do the job. Germany is already proving that with the need to fire up 21 mothballed coal power plants.
When President Reagan was elected one actress said she found that hard to believe because no one she knew voted for him. The liberal elites are making the same mistake on electric vehicles since they can afford them and most of their friends can. This is shown by Schroeder’s statement, “That will help facilitate a rapid transition from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EV).” The reality is most Americans can not afford to buy a new combustion engine vehicle let alone a more pricy electric one.
Biden is driven by Liberal politics and Globalism not facts