New funding was also announced to develop medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans across 23 states.  -  Photo: Chris Brown

New funding was also announced to develop medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans across 23 states.

Photo: Chris Brown

Tesla will make at least 7,500 chargers from its U.S. charger network available for all electric vehicles by the end of 2024, according to a White House statement on Feb. 15. The statement also includes several public and private EV initiatives.

Tesla will place at least 3,500 new and existing 250 kW Superchargers along highway corridors and Level 2 Destination Charging at locations like hotels and restaurants in urban and rural locations, the White House said. Tesla, which operates the second-largest charging network in the U.S. behind ChargePoint, will also double its full nationwide network of Superchargers.

These steps are aimed to help the U.S. reach its goal of 50% of new car sales by 2030, the White House said, and to build a national network of 500,000 public EV chargers by that time. There are about 130,000 public chargers today.

The Department of Energy also announced $7.4 million in funding for seven projects to develop medium-and heavy-duty EV charging and hydrogen corridor infrastructure plans across 23 states.

New National Charging Standards

As well, the Department of Transportation, in partnership with the Department of Energy, finalized new standards on charging reliability along highway corridors.

Effective immediately, all EV chargers funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law must be built in the U.S. By July 2024, at least 55% of the cost of all components will need to be manufactured domestically as well.

The new Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) discretionary grant program will make available more than $2.5 billion over five years to states, localities, Tribes, territories, and public authorities to deploy publicly accessible charging and alternative fueling infrastructure.

The new national standards for federally funded EV chargers are aimed to make charging “a predictable and reliable experience” to develop comprehensive standards for the installation, operation, and maintenance of EV charging stations. The standards will address disparities with connector types, payment methods, data privacy, speed and power of chargers, reliability, and the overall user experience.

Also included in the announcement was a roundup of commitments from companies such as General Motors, EVgo, Pilot, Hertz, and bp to expand their networks by up to 100,000 public charging ports in the next two years:

Hertz and bp Network Buildout

Hertz and bp are announcing their intention to build out a national network of EV fast charging infrastructure to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Hertz and bp intend to bring charging infrastructure to Hertz locations across America, including major cities such as Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

The charging hubs will serve rideshare and taxi drivers, car rental customers and the general public at high-demand locations, such as airports.

A number of installations are expected to include large-scale charging hubs, known as “gigahubs.” bp aims to invest $1 billion in EV charging in the US by 2030. Hertz’s objective is to make one-quarter of its fleet electric by the end of 2024.

Pilot, GM & EVgo Partnership

Pilot Company, General Motors, and EVgo have partnered to build a coast-to-coast network of 2,000 high power 350 kW fast chargers at Pilot and Flying J travel centers along American highways. The nationwide network of up to 500 travel centers will enable long distance EV travel by connecting urban and rural communities. Today, the companies are announcing that the first 200+ chargers in this network are expected to be available for use by drivers in 2023.

TravelCenters & Electrify America

TravelCenters of America and Electrify America announced that they will offer electric vehicle charging at select Travel Centers of America and Petro locations, with a goal of installing approximately 1,000 EV chargers at 200 locations along major highways over the next five years.

Mercedes, ChargePoint, MN8 Energy Initiatives

Mercedes-Benz, ChargePoint, and MN8 Energy announced a partnership to deploy over 400 charging hubs with more than 2,500 publicly accessible DC fast charging ports across the U.S. and Canada.

ChargePoint, Volvo Cars, and Starbucks announced a partnership to deploy 60 DC fast chargers at up to 15 locations along the 1,350-mile pilot route between Seattle and Denver to be completed by summer 2023.

General Motors, in partnership with FLO, has announced a collaborative effort with dealers to install up to 40,000 public Level 2 EV chargers in local communities by 2026 through GM’s Dealer Community Charging Program. The new charging stations will join the GM’s Ultium Charge 360 network and will be available to all EV drivers.

Other Initiatives

Francis Energy, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based EV charge point operator, is expanding into 40 states in 2023, with plans to install 50,000 EV charging ports by 2030 in partnership with municipalities, auto dealers, Tribal Nations, and private businesses.

Forum Mobility, a zero-emission trucking solutions provider, recently announced a $400 million commitment to deploy over 1,000 DC fast-chargers. The charging infrastructure will serve the thousands of heavy-duty electric trucks projected to begin operating at the San Pedro and Oakland ports in California over the next decade. The community charging depots will create over 600 new union jobs in disadvantaged communities while reducing harmful emissions at the ports and along freight corridors.

Ford has committed to installing at least one public-facing DC Fast charger with two ports at 1,920 Ford dealerships by January 2024.

About the author
Chris Brown

Chris Brown

Associate Publisher

As associate publisher of Automotive Fleet, Auto Rental News, and Fleet Forward, Chris Brown covers all aspects of fleets, transportation, and mobility.

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