More and more consumers are switching from a combustion engine to an electric car. The USA in particular is considered a pioneer in electromobility. The Electrify America association wants to further expand the charging infrastructure in the third largest area.
Most US customers of an electric car currently charge it at home and then primarily at a normal socket. That means endless loading times and is therefore anything but convenient. The number of public charging stations varies greatly depending on the region, and in many states there are currently little more than a few superchargers and alibi charging stations in front of public buildings. That should change in the next few years.
US President Joe Biden is planning to set up an extensive charging network, which will ensure that more and more Americans switch to an electric vehicle across all states.
Biden promises 10,000 charging stations by 2025
The company Electrify America, which originally emerged from the Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal, is primarily responsible for the public charging network. As part of the legal dispute, Volkswagen committed to invest two billion US dollars in a corresponding charging infrastructure.
At the end of last year, however, the company had only set up 500 charging stations and around 2,200 charging stations across the country. Not much for a state like the USA. But the expansion is making great strides, not least due to pressure from the president and his democratic party. At the end of this year there should be 800 stations and more than 3,500 charging points. 1,800 charging parks and 10,000 charging stations are planned by 2025.
“We have decided to double our current charging infrastructure in North America over the next four years to meet the demand for the rapid growth of electric vehicles expected by virtually all automakers and to help make EV adoption more accessible and attractive than ever.” said Giovanni Palazzo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Electrify America.
“With this commitment, we are supporting the plans of the major automobile manufacturers and the governments of the United States and Canada to promote the transition to an electric mobility system,” said Palazzo. Small and medium-sized charging parks are currently emerging at malls, shopping centers and outlets, where Americans can effortlessly charge their vehicles while shopping. The other charging stations are to be set up in large parking lots and in multi-storey car parks.
Electrify America wants to compete with Tesla in the US
Electrify America’s charging network currently offers a range from 50 to 350 kW, with most charging stations supposed to achieve speeds of more than 150 kW. In order to survive against the Tesla charging network with its superchargers, not only the charging speed but also the locations should be competitive. Similar to Ionity or EnBW in Germany and Europe, Electrify America also has corresponding charging tariffs, with the manufacturers of some vehicles having agreements on free charging.
For example, anyone who has secured one of the Lucid Airs, which will be available from December, can charge the first three years completely free of charge in the Electrify America charging network – a copy of the old Tesla system, where the Tesla models could also be recharged free of charge on the superchargers. It looks similar with the models from Mercedes, Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen or Volvo. Even their new electric models don’t pay a cent in Electrify America’s charging network for at least two years when they plug it in.
The bills for normal charging are either based on the charging time or the amount of energy that has been refilled. Currently, a kilowatt-hour costs $ 0.43 for third-party customers and $ 0.31 for members, who incur an additional monthly fee of $ 4, but which is often paid for by the automaker. If billed by duration, it is usually three cents per minute or 40 cents after a period of ten minutes.
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