Momentum Is Building For EV Charging Station Buildout

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Depending on who’s counting, the number of public EV fast-charging stations in the US is set to rocket past the number of gas stations in just a few years. That’s the good news. Even better news would be new technology that enables drivers to enjoy the convenience of EV charging simply by pulling into a parking spot, and that is also coming into view.

EV Charging Stations Vs. Gas Stations: Who’s Counting?

The buzz about EV charging stations surfaced earlier this week when Bloomberg reporter Kyle Stock took note of data from the US Department of Energy. “At the current pace, public fast-charging sites will outnumber gas stations in the US in about eight years — but charger momentum is only expected to accelerate,” he wrote, suggesting that the turnover could happen much sooner.

One key factor ramping up the pace of installation is the Biden administration’s NEVI $5 billion funding pot for new charging stations, financed through a carve-out from the the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

On a more cautionary note, it remains to be seen if the number of locations where one can buy gas will continue to shrink as it has in the past. Much of the previous shrinkage involved industry consolidation that predates the popularity of EVs, resulting in more pumps clustered in fewer but larger locations.

CleanTechnica is among those noting that the number of gas station locations in the US fell precipitously in the decades leading up to 2013, but the firm Xmap indicates that the overall number of gas stations has stabilized since then.

Shell provides an example of the complex pattern of gas pump availability in the US over the years. Back in 2019, CleanTechnica took note of some interesting vehicle electrification moves by Shell, including the acquisition of the EV charging firm Greenlots. Earlier this year the company released a net zero plan that involves stepping up its EV charging business and divesting itself 1,000 of gas stations globally, though the impact on the US market is uncertain. The trade industry news organization C-Store Dive, for example, notes that Shell has 14,000 gas stations in the US while growing — not shrinking — its footprint in the gas-plus-convenience market in recent years.

EV Charging Is Becoming (Much) More Convenient

In terms of EV adoption, that thing about convenience stores is a two-edged sword. C-Store Dive cites Shell’s new net zero report, in which the company expects that its growing convenience store footprint will enable its EV charging business to turn a profit.

The basic idea is to give people something to do while they charge up, the same as if they were gassing up. That strategy is also in play for Mercedes-Benz, which has just launched an ambitious plan to install upscale EV charging stations throughout North America.

Part of the plan involve teaming up with Starbucks to install charging stations at key locations where people can duck in for their latte and use the bathroom or whatever.

Wireless EV Charging Is Coming, Too

In terms of having something to do while charging up, the growing availability of home charging and workplace charging is another convenience factor to consider for EV drivers. On its face that sure beats driving around to find a gas station, though these stations would be primarily for slower charging speeds, not DC fast-charging.

On top of that, the added convenience of wireless charging is also beginning to emerge from fantasyland into reality. The ultimate convenience would be charging on-the-go while traveling over electrified roads, but it would also be nice to pull into a parking spot, push a button, and get a charge without having to fiddle around with the charging station equipment (see lots of wireless charging background here).

A significant new development in the wireless charging-while-parked R&D field cropped up last month, when the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory reported a new stage in its ongoing wireless EV charging partnership with Volkswagen.

The project launched in 2021 and reached a previous milestone of a 100-kilowatt wireless charge. The latest iteration of the technology hit the 270-kW charging level on a Porsche Taycan, bringing it within the Energy Department’s 250-350 kW range for extreme fat charging.

If you’re wondering why the Taycan was chosen as a test bed, that’s a good question. One answer is that upscale EV buyers may be more willing to assume the cost of a wireless EV charging option, unless and until costs go down.

More to the point, though, is reducing the weight of the wireless EV charging equipment. “As a light-duty passenger vehicle, the Porsche Taycan would be difficult to equip using conventional large, heavy wireless power transfer systems,” ORNL explains, noting that the project aims to “achieve higher densities from smaller, more compact systems to improve overall efficiency and performance.”

“ORNL’s system can achieve a 50% increase in state of charge within 10 minutes with more than 95% efficiency,” they add. That compares to the current state of wireless charging for light-duty vehicles, which ORNL puts at hovering around the 11-kW mark and 92% efficiency.

EVs & Elections: There Are Consequences

Of course, no mention of electric vehicles and EV charging would be complete without a mention of the 800-pound gorilla in the room, Election Day 2024. CleanTechnica has spilled plenty of ink on the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and other planet-saving measures pushed by President Biden and his team despite a reluctant Congress and a resistant phalanx of fossil energy stakeholders. All that hard work is beginning to pay off, and it could all evaporate on January 21, 2025 if the Republican party regains control of the White House with the Heritage Foundation’s now-notorious Project 2025 at the helm.

As of this writing, the Democratic party is doing its usual thing of trying to blow a good opportunity. The dust is finally beginning to settle, but in the meantime, the Republican party is getting plenty of TLC from news organizations that have been working overtime to downplay certain facts, such as the Republican candidate for President being a convicted felon who finished up his previous term in office with an ignominious economic record, a cabal of religious extremists in control of the US Supreme Court, and trail of broken promises.

Chief among those promises was saving all those coal jobs, a matter conveniently forgotten by those in charge. That ship has long sailed, to be replaced by solar arrays, energy storage, and clean tech manufacturing jobs shepherded by the Biden-Harris administration.

Voters have a clear choice this year: Keep the decarbonization train on track, or not. That doesn’t mean “sitting this one out,” voting for a third-party candidate, or writing in Snoopy. Any of those three is just another vote for Project 2025.

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Photo (cropped): ChargePoint is among the EV charging stakeholders to participate in Biden administration’s NEVI fast-charging network buildout program, funded through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.