Oh my god, it’s a mirage.
I’m tellin’ y’all, it’s sabotage.
– Beastie Boys
Politicians never miss an opportunity to remind us of what they’re doing “for the people.”
One such missive came this week from the Office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. A press release marked the one year anniversary of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
The BIL includes $7.5 billion of funding for a National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) plan. Companies are lining up to get a piece of the EV charging infrastructure pie.
The Congressional press release happened to quote my recent remarks to the Washington Post to illustrate “how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is delivering results For The People in all fifty states.”
“Drivers of electric vehicles that use a different plug [than Tesla] need a network of chargers that are convenient and reliable. That’s what is exciting about the national electric vehicle infrastructure plan.”
Lanny Hartmann
The key word here is, “reliable.” Drivers of electric vehicles (The People) need chargers that are solidly reliable.
Do the politicians, government officials, and company executives who cut the ribbons to inaugurate new charging stations understand that The People often suffer once the cameras go away?
Are the corporations that receive millions of dollars to build charging stations going to be held accountable to keep those chargers operational? Or will uptime requirements be diluted at the first cry of “impossible!” from the charging station operators?
EVAdoption, an analysis & consulting firm run by Loren McDonald, has indicated that uptime requirements are already threatened to be eroded. Loren points out that EVgo is asking the California Energy Commission for a long list of exclusions in the proposed definition of downtime. They want to exclude vandalism, supply chain disruptions, vehicle interoperability, damage supposedly caused by users, and other exceptions to escape responsibility for maintaining an uptime percentage in the high 90s.
EV advocate Chelsea Sexton pointed out that the EV charging providers are happy to take public money to build chargers but they shun responsibility for keeping them operational. Chelsea minces no words, “Unreliable charging is sabotaging EV growth.”
When a charging station doesn’t deliver electricity, EV drivers don’t care why. It doesn’t matter to The People who drive electric vehicles that the charging company didn’t plan ahead to stockpile replacement parts. It’s not for The People to suffer if the network operator is not diligent with software updates to ensure compatibility with newer vehicles. We’ve heard all the excuses.
NEVI – and all other public funding mechanisms – must deliver results for The People, not just the corporations.
