DETROIT (AP) – When the car revolution comes, will there be enough places to plug in?
There are now 26,000 vehicle charging stations open to the public in the United States, with more than 84,000 plugs.
But the country and the world will want thousands more if drivers adopt battery-powered vehicles. And because they are asked to invest before this call arrives, automakers and companies that charge are suffering from increasing numbers.
Currently electric vehicles make up only about 1.3% of total new vehicle sales in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com auto site. Electrics are much bigger in other countries, accounting for 2.6% of global new vehicle sales last year, the International Energy Agency says.
With more than 40 fully electric vehicles on the market in the U.S. or coming within the next three years, however, auto and charging company executives say the demand is on the way.
“The automakers, more and more of them, are committing to manufacture electric vehicles,” said Mike Moran, spokesman for Electrify America, a network of charging stations being built with $2 billion in settlement money from Volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. “Last year automakers announced a combined $225 billion in investments in electrification.”
On Friday, General Motors and charging company EVGo announced plans to add about 700 fast-charging stations, tripling the number on the EVGo network over the next five years. They wouldn’t say how much they’ll invest, but plan to add 2,700 fast-charging plugs.
They will do so in 40 unspecified metropolitan areas, adding California, Texas, Florida and Illinois. And they will build stations near places where other people go shopping, such as grocery stores or pharmacies. Typically, a fast charger can recharge a battery in 30 to 40 minutes, so the concept is that charging is done while others shop.
“We’ve done extensive customer studies to perceive what it’s like for the customer,” said Mary Barra, GM’s CEO. “Clearly, our customers have told us it’s having a physically powerful cargo infrastructure.”
Detroit-based GM said it is moving away from the internal combustion engine for a long all-electric haul and plans to deploy 20 new international electric cars by 2023. Ford, Crosstown’s rival, has a 480-kilometer all-electric SUV. ) and includes an all-electric edition of the F-150 truck, the best-selling vehicle in the country.
Fast charging stations have a higher kilowatt capacity than home chargers, and are vital for temporarily recharging batteries in newer electric cars that can charge three hundred miles or more on a single charge. But the maximum of the country’s public cargo network is much slower. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that there are 3884 public fast charging stations in the country with 14858 outlets.
As more and more electric cars are sold, faster chargers will be needed, especially for others living in apartment buildings that recharge in their homes, said Cathy Zoi, CEO of EVGo.
The 2,700 new fast-charging outlets will begin to be counted early next year. GM and EVGo say they will invest in retail outlets, however, many will be built with investments from utilities, governments and public-private partnerships.
More public charging stations will allow GM and other automakers to compete more with Tesla, which is now the world leader in electric vehicle sales and has its own personal network of fast charging stations. Tesla has a network of 1,971 charging stations with 17,467 outlets worldwide. An American number not available.
Electrify America now has more than 450 charging stations in the United States with more than 2,000 fast loads, Array Moran said. It is expected to have 800 stations and around 3,500 until the end of next year.
The guide’s analyst, Sam Abuelsamid, said the number of chargers was developing and that they deserve to be sufficient to meet demand as more and more electric cars are sold. “A big challenge now is that each network has its own payment system, so owners want multiple accounts to access all the chargers,” he said. But Ford, GM and others are looking to add all networks in one account.
“As more and more cars enter the market they charge faster and have a longer reach, especially with aggregation, allowing roaming, that’s where I think it will start to make a difference,” he said.