> That means mapping out charging stations in a comprehensive, thoughtful way … not leaving it to the whims of the commercial sector, … It will require cities to develop plans for how and where to locate public chargers I spoke at public hearing last year in favor of an EV ordinance that my city passed. I believe that if we are to involve government with EV adoption, which is necessary, we need to be prepared for bac…
A thing to think about is: Do we in fact need top-down government mandates to do this? People with gas cars have range anxiety, too, and you need to be strategic about placement of gas stations to ensure that they don't get stuck in a place where they can't charge. And yet... this turns out to be a problem that largely solved itself without a centralizing authority, because "people want to buy gas/electricity for the…
To install EV charging, unless you’re planning on generating your own energy on site, you’re likely going to procure power from your local utility, most of which are monopolies that are heavily regulated by your state utility commission.
Some estimates say it could cost utilities up to $5,380 per EV to upgrade the electrical infrastructure to support them [1]. Although utilities will earn more revenue through selling electricity, this will not completely offset the infrastructure investment. Will the costs be paid by ratepayers, some of whom may not have an EV? Your state utility commission may balk at that.
Of course federal incentives exist to offset costs, but many programs require participation by your state executive branch, who may not be in lock step with federal policy. Your state utility commission may not be in lock step with your state administration. If you can get agreement with your state policy makers, your utility will have to be employed to expand grid access. They may expect certain amount of consumption to make it worth their while, which you may not be able to provide for a few years until EVs gain adoption. Some utilities will charge you extra too if you use too much electricity, called demand charges, to disincentive consumption. Utilities will have their own schedule to build out the infrastructure, which may not match yours. They’re also a monopoly, so you can’t exactly shop around. Then you have the code and permitting requirements of the municipality your setting up the infrastructure in. The permitting process also follows their schedule, not yours.
With EV charging we have a massive coordination problem, with actors you can’t choose who aren’t strictly driven by market incentives. You’ll need some kind of combination of carrots (tax breaks and grants) and sticks (fines and penalties for slow walking a process) to make the infrastructure needed to support wide EV adoption.
[1] https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/costs-revving-up-the-g...