Automakers may be pumping the brakes on EV production in the U.S., but charging challenges—traditionally a major hurdle to adoption—are diminishing at a rapid clip, Bloomberg said.
According to a new report, almost 600 public fast-charging stations were switched on for U.S. drivers in the first three months of the year, a 7.6% increase since the end of 2023, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of federal data. There are now almost 8,200 quick-turn EV stations across the country, or one for every 15 gas stations. Tesla is responsible for slightly more than one quarter of them.
“EV demand has slowed, but it hasn’t stopped,” Chris Ahn, head of electrification consulting at Deloitte told Bloomberg. “[There] aren’t a ton of charging deserts left. A lot of location problems have been solved.”
The first-quarter infrastructure was fueled in part by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, a $5 billion plan to fill in the remaining gaps in the charging map. Federal money recently switched on a fast-charging station at Circle K in Richmond, Kentucky, for example, and another at the Kahului Park & Ride in Maui, Hawaii.
In addition to the NEVI program, credit is also due in part to large convenience store retailers Buc-ee’s and Wawa committing to EV charging support, helping get a boost in building last quarter. Indiana got 16 new EV fast-charging stations, Missouri and Tennessee got 13 each and Alabama got 11. Together, Buc-ee’s and Wawa added 19 new stations in the United States—10 at Buc-ee’s and 9 at Wawa locations, according to CleanTechnicia.com
BloombergNEF estimates that annual worldwide public-charging revenue will rise to $127 billion by 2030, with Tesla on track to account for $7.4 billion of that.
“We are getting closer to where a lot of these charging stations actually turn profitable,” said Philipp Kampshoff, who leads McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility. “Now, you have a sort of line of sight and then obviously it makes sense to scale further.”
Kampshoff said the next wave of EV buyers is likely to include a larger contingent of drivers who live in apartment buildings and rely heavily on public stations instead of plugging in at home.