Free Charging for All Americans
By: Travis Kellerman
Tags: Equity, Policy, Electric Vehicles, Climate Action, Ev Charging

Free Charging for All Americans

Electric Vehicles as a Universal Basic Asset starts with ‘charge equity’

Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order to phase out internal combustion engines by 2035 will effectively convert 10% of all traffic in America to EVs (Electric Vehicles). He signed the measure, despite the pandemic, to push distributed, smart electricity grids — a necessity when all those EVs get plugged in for recharging in the same window of a post-rush hour and for overnight slow-charging.

What happens when Californians cross the state line? And long-haul electric trucks for shipping? A serious demand wave for EV charging will swell over the next decade. A robust, equitable network with free charging as a public utility service is the prerequisite to EV adoption.

EV charging photo by Colin D on Unsplash

A 2019 survey from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Consumer Reports showed broader Electric Vehicle (EV) demand has arrived. More than 30% of Americans across most income levels want one. So why are EV sales declining?

Car dealers are still pushing “normal” cars over EVs. Salespeople struggle to sell the sacrifices: “Where do I charge it, when I’m not at home?” “Why do I have to buy a home charger?” All that risk is unaffordable, even for middle-class Americans considering a new generation of EVs priced nearly on par with gasoline engines. Reducing one’s carbon footprint loses to economics and day-to-day risk every time.

Carbon impact is an abstract, secondary concern for daily drivers. EV adoption is a problem of infrastructure economics. Americans depend on older vehicles to get to work, to navigate family and life stops, and to survive in the gig economy. Drivers in auto-centric America have a core need: to get around, with confidence and efficiency. We need to go wherever the road goes without fear of running out of gas, or charge. As Steve LeVine has detailed, we need charging stations to be as ubiquitous as gas stations to trust EVs.

The market has maxed out the number of people willing and able to put up with limited, uncertain charging. A hundred years ago, range anxiety limited car use — including the fifteen million Model T’s — until “the growth of a nationwide network of regularly spaced fueling stations” made gas engines a transportation standard.”

Make charging free, reliable, and accessible.

Both the Bernie Sanders version of the Green New Deal and now Biden’s Plan have provisions and a big budget for EV research. EV research and development should continue. Putting more EV’s on the road for more people before 2030 takes another thrust: a universal charger network.

“Biden will work with our nation’s governors and mayors to support the deployment of more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by the end of 2030.” — from his Plan for Climate Change

One of the first programs rolled out by the Biden administration has the opportunity to create a consistent connection for Americans to a “free energy” alternative: the nationwide Electric Vehicle Charger Network. Just as the gas station made owning a car possible in the 20th century, the EVCN would make electric vehicles possible. It would solve the first half of the equation for access and cost of ownership. Imagine what free, clean energy would do for most Americans living with a dependence on independent vehicles.