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This morning the White House launched an electric vehicle (EV) charging action plan, designed to progress the Country towards the President's goal of 500k chargers nationwide, and 50% of EV sales share by 2030.
The action plan is heavily weighted towards federal research and directives, with today's announcement 1) establishing a joint office of Energy and Transportation; 2) convening a series of stakeholder meetings; 3) preparing to issue guidance to states and cities on how to deploy EV charging stations; 4) requesting input from domestic manufacturers to ensure the network can be built domestically; 5) soliciting nominations for "alternative fuels corridors."
As for money, the release today flags $5b from the infrastructure bill (0.5% of total) allocated to States for roads and EV infrastructure; however, today's announcement also indicates there will be ~$3b in federal grants made available to ensure the charger network meets administrative priorities.
The Country has ~100k charge points in place, suggesting the $3b of federal grants will provide $7,500 in support towards each of the additional 400k chargers needed to meet the President's goal.
Referring to a DOE report from 2015, the department estimates cost of commercial-grade chargers in the range of $10k-$40k, suggesting the $7.5k grant per location will have a major impact on the direction of the Nation's EV infrastructure.
There are currently around 150k gasoline stations nationwide, suggesting the President's goal of 500k charge points would put EV infrastructure on par with internal combustion engine (ICE) infrastructure; and that's before accounting for the proportion of EV owners likely to charge at home.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) operates the largest EV charging network in the US, with around 30k chargers (worldwide); CEO Elon Musk was in the press last week indicating the infrastructure bill should be canned entirely.
Though Tesla may feel like its privately funded network is being crowded out by taxpayer-funded government grants, equipment manufacturers like Blink (NASDAQ:BLNK) and ChargePoint (NYSE:CHPT) are likely to benefit as they sell equipment into the rapidly growing market.