(Reuters) - The Biden administration has an ambitious $7.5 billion plan to expand electric vehicle charging to underserved areas, but it must first overcome a host of obstacles that have discouraged private investment in more equitable charging networks.
The experience of California - the U.S. state with the largest number of EVs and the most advanced charging infrastructure - shows how challenging it will be to achieve the goals in the $1 trillion infrastructure spending proposal Biden wants Congress to pass.
California has poured more than $2 billion into a variety of EV incentive programs over the last years, which include policies to promote equity in distribution of chargers. The state has also generated more than $25 billion through its carbon credits trading program since 2012, a portion of which goes toward EV and charging projects.
Nevertheless, California currently has less than 40% of the charging infrastructure needed to support projected EV growth by 2025, according to a U.S.-wide charging gap study by the International Council on Clean Transportation.
Lower-income areas in largely Black and Hispanic California neighborhoods continue to be significantly less likely to have access to public chargers, a February study by researchers at California's Humboldt State University found.
"For charging site hosts, the economics are extremely challenging because of the relatively low adoption of EVs today," said John Gartner, senior director at the Center for...
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