Laggards and Leaders: Tracking State NEVI Performance | NEVI Update # 2 May/June 2024
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Almost three-quarters of the United States now has some form of NEVI activity underway to deploy EV fast chargers with federal funds. So who are the true laggards and which states are outperforming the others?
Our second update on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program in the United States, better known as #NEVI, brings us up to speed on which states are leading the way, where the charging stations will soon appear, and where site announcements to install DC fast charging are imminent in certain states.
We also take an early look at how the first DC fast charging stations funded by taxpayers are holding up, including a visit to the first NEVI-funded site in New York state that suffered a few setbacks early on.
Catch all the latest numbers in this video and be sure to subscribe to ensure you catch future updates.
Here's our test of the first two NEVI-funded sites in Ohio and Pennsylvania:
• Testing $1.3 Million o...
And here's our most recent visit to Tesla's new site in Rockland, ME: • Testing Tesla's First ...
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How are you feeling about your state's progress with NEVI funding?
If you need to catch up on the NEVI program as a whole, watch our first update here: ruclips.net/video/AEfILBd_3dk/видео.html
Thx Steve. Love these updates. I just got back from a trip in VA and their one PFJ NEVI awarded site is under construction. It is in Skippers, VA & I added photos to PS. Thx again for these. I enjoy watching.
Excellent news, thanks Walter. Like you, I'm finding the uptick in activity both motivating and challenging... makes your weekly update schedule all the more impressive 👏 We need more states in play on the construction side so Virginia moving up is great to hear.
In Washington State (my state), I feel like I-5 has pretty good charging coverage as is. What's needed here is more chargers along I-90, particularly, the Seattle->Ellensburg section, where the Seattle->Spokane corridor (I-90) and the Seattle->Tri-cities corridor (I-82) merge together. At the moment, there's 8 public CCS stalls in Ellensburg (plus several additional Tesla chargers), but the big gap between Seattle and Ellensburg, punctuated by two mountain passes, requires many drivers to charge for a long time to reach a rather high state of charge, which, in turn, tends to lead to a lot of clogged chargers. The Ellensburg PFJ, doubling the CCS capacity there from 4 to 8, helped a lot, but more is needed before increasing numbers of EVs on the road quickly overwhelm it (The Seattle Metro area has one of the highest EV adoption rates in the country).
Of course, what I really want on I-90 is not so much more chargers at Ellensburg, but two or three new sites opening up in Cle Elem, between Seattle and Ellensburg. This would allow me to travel between western and eastern Washington charging only to 50% rather than 70%, which, in a Bolt, makes for a huge difference in charging time. However, the catch is that one charging network opening there won't be enough - there needs to multiple sites to provide drivers the peace of mind that if one of them doesn't work for them, they can go to the other. Running the battery down to 10% with only one charger around, which had better work or else, still feels very risky, and in a real road trip, I would probably not chance it, even if it means sitting in Ellensburg for 45-50 minutes to charge the Bolt to 70%.
Another item on my wish list is more of the slower DC fast charging option in the town centers along the interstate. Yes, many people just want to pull in off the highway and charge up as fast as possible, but many others would like to get food or explore the town while the charge, and might value additional options beyond a Burger King or Taco Bell. Being able to shop while you charge saves a lot of time compared to having to shop and charge one at a time. As it happens, downtown Ellensburg indeed does have a DC fast charger, in a perfect location for access to all the shops in the town center...except that it's an old site with only one charging stall, which is, not surprisingly, nearly all of the time, taken. In 2024, single-stall charging sites are nearly useless - the town centers need capacity to allow several vehicles to charge at once. They don't need to be nearly as fast as the chargers at gas station chargers right off the highway, but they do need to be present and reliable.
Excellent local perspective, thank you. Hopefully I can use some off this info on our trips this summer and finally make some vids relevant to the PNW.
Thank you for bringing a little attention to our situation in Wyoming. It is hard to find out any information at all, and I learned as much about our progress from your video as I can find here, locally. Our first round proposal was to give the funding to motels, which was understandably rejected, and our second round asked for exceptions to all the "50 miles" rules, which was also rejected. The arguments about a lack of local EV's (I drive an Ioniq5 here in casper, and I see a dozen other electrics regularly) is disingenuous, as we are the least populated state, with hundreds of interstate miles, we have many times more traffic coming through the state, rather than local, either gas or electric. I appreciate the implications of your "Avoid zone", and what that will do to our tourist economy. Just having the AFC sites covered would encourage thousands of EVs to come see yellowstone. Keep up the great coverage, and a deep dive into what is happening (or not happening) with funding in Wyoming might make an interesting video, at least to one viewer.
Thanks for taking it constructively, as intended! And I appreciate the local insight. I plan to cover how the states behind the curve here might keep up... or at least not fall further behind... with private investment and other infrastructure developments. It's important to remember that there are many solutions to bridge these gaps, even when the state doesn't pull its weight.
Thanks for doing the homework and providing the update, Steve.
Glad it's of interest, thanks for the watch and comment!
Louisiana lost its DOT leadership who was very fast getting the ball rolling for NEVI. But ever since then, a Republican governor was installed and progress slowed to a crawl. Luckily businesses have steamrolled ahead despite the sloth of the LaDOTD.
Thanks for the local context, it's not always evident from just the maps and status updates (except Wyoming, where the slow intent is loud and clear).
If I can find the time, I'll dive into more of the laggard states to analyze whether private investment is stepping in to fill the void anyway. This is certainly the case in Wyoming, where Pilot-Flying J have locations that will cover most of the Interstate travel gaps. Glad to hear that seems to be the case in Louisiana as well.
Exciting news Steve! Thanks for the update! Now even more EXCITING is the cost at those sites. Charging costs have gone to the MOON. It is cheaper to drive a ICE. Either regulation steps in to tamp down those costs or expect more resistance from potential vehicle buyers. They find out what it costs to charge and they are going to hit the E brake. People are trained in the gas station model and won't first consider most of the charging is at home.
My state is a laggard. It is quite depressing. The chargers I see showing up are at dealerships. Not a reliable or readily accessible resource.
Thanks, interesting angle. Public charging costs are definitely all over the map... I can get both free DCFC (open to all models) and $0.82/kWh within 250 miles of us traveling out of Boston. The "should charge at home" argument is sounds, but needs to be made byEV advocates, manufacturers, and dealers alike. And then we need more L2 solutions in cities and suburbs to address the 1/4 to 1/3 of the population who don't have a driveway/garage/parking spot in which to charge. Lots of moving parts but I think the overall advantages of driving electric are slowly getting through, especially any time gas prices spike.
@@plugandplayEV
I think, over time, public charging costs will start to go down as:
1) Competition intensifies.
2) Technology improvement make reduce the cost of charging equipment.
3) More EVs on the road, allowing the cost of that equipment to be spread out over more road users.
4) More chargers in the ground makes maintenance more economical (e.g. no need to send a technician out hundreds of miles simply to repair one charger).
With regards to 1), it's important to realize that if there were only one gas station every 50 miles along the interstate, gas would be much more expensive too. Eventually, I think we will see charging stations start to post prices, like the gas stations do, complete with 9/10th endings, and old charging providers that are unable to compete will end up going out of business, in favor of those that can.
Unfortunately, reaching this steady state will likely take several years (longer in rural areas away from interstates). In the meantime, the best way to keep your individual EV charging costs down, by far, is to charge at home, whenever possible. Even if the home charger, itself, costs a couple thousand dollars up front to install, it will easily pay for itself, possible in as little as a year or two, depending on how much you drive.
I am glad I have discovered this RUclips channel. I was wondering how many stations offer native NACS connectors. Does anyone know?
Thanks for the support! At the time of writing, only the Tesla site in Maine comes with native NACS. NEVI requirements were defined in 2022, before NACS/J3400 gathered pace as a public option, so hardware is still defaulting to the CCS1 connector requirement. NACS is an option for most states, however, so expect to see more and more NEVI sites incorporate the connector as construction continues. I will also try to factor that into my monthly updates here.
@@plugandplayEV Thank you!
I’m incredibly worried about NEVI if there’s a change in Administrations away from Biden. One candidate is particularly vocal about refusing to spend money allocated by Congress for programs that he and his party don’t like. Electric vehicle infrastructure falls squarely into that category.
I share the worry, although a lot gets said during electioneering and priorities can change (or be swept under the rug) quickly once office is taken up. There will also be pushback from states like Ohio, North Carolina, and possibly even Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and more, given how much investment is flowing into them on the EV side. Not to say that it's not a threat, but a lot of good work that's already been done will reap rewards, whether immediately or a little further down the line.
another awesome update! 💪💪 Thanks Steve!
Much appreciated, thanks for the support! ⚡
Thanks, Steve! I'm really looking forward to seeing California's upcoming plan.
Same! It will definitely be one of the more fascinating deployments. Did you catch the award recipients? I should cover that in the next one, unless CA has released specific locations by then.
@@plugandplayEV I haven't seen anything about award recipients yet. I've just seen California's NEVI plans up to identifying corridors (groups).
Hopefully there will be something along 395 and more areas by national parks.
@@newscoulomb3705 Right, I think it was a week or two ago that the CEC identified preliminary awards for those corridors, but not specific locations (because not all awards will necessarily go ahead until signed off). These were the entities that won (some very new/inexperienced names, depending on your perspective):
Zero6 EV Charging - $14.4M - Three corridors (6A/6B/7)
Skychargers - $10.6M - Three corridors (6A/6B/7)
Electrify America - $6.5M - One corridor (7)
Sustainable Energies - $4.9M - Three corridors (16/19/20)
Tesla - $1.3M - One corridor (16)
@@plugandplayEV Interesting. I didn't see those awards posted. But yes, those are definitely some new names. I was really hoping ChargePoint could supplement their existing West Coast Electric Highway (they are almost exclusively CPE250 at this point).
California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Virginia have passed right-to-charge laws aiming to streamline the installation of residential community EV charging stations. Also, Illinois recently passed a right-to-charge law specific to new houses or multiunit buildings.
Great to have that momentum on L2 as well. Should take some pressure off city DCFC stations, in the long-term.
Thanks for the maps, Steve!
I'd be interested in how much of the ~5 billion has actually been awarded, whether it be to states or companies like Pilot/Flying J, Circle K, Tesla, etc. Is that info available?
Thanks, Tom. The $ amounts are generally available, but like everything NEVI, visibility varies state to state. So while we have clear and exact numbers for the likes of Ohio and Maine, sites that snuck in outside of public procurement rounds like New York and Vermont are much less clear. Taking the average price of a site at $450K-600K, a rough estimate on current expenditure would be $5M to $7M for the stations opened so far.
The geographic clumping of each status is fascinating. You wonder if the clumped states are talking to each other ...
On their public consultation call this week, Drive Ohio identified several meetings with neighboring state departments of transport. I can certainly imagine that activity stoking the efforts of some states, such as Indiana and Kentucky, who you might not expect to be quite so advanced in the NEVI process.
On the West Coast side, I think it's simply the complexity of so much existing infrastructure and identifying the right sites to install or upgrade. We already see several locations in the Northeast that can be upgraded from old, sub-100 kW hardware to newer equipment and count towards the AFC corridor build out. That's even more true of sites on the West Coast, which started their infrastructure efforts several years before us more than a decade ago
Southern california, I'm seeing a little more fast charging, we need Mass level 2 charging, it looks like a lot of people are using DC fast charging as their primary charging
Agreed. Overlooking L2 is a guaranteed way to put unwanted pressure on limited fast charging resources.
L2 in every park, community center, pool with a parking lot. But BYOC bring your own cable is essential imo. We need mennekes solutions NOW.
West Virginia is not only a laggard on NEVI, they also have yet to award Volkswagen diesel settlement money for charging that was supposed to go out in 2021. Very frustrating, I love visiting the Mountain State, but am less inclined if charging continues to be sparse and slow
Oddly, despite all my rambling around the Midwest, I've only had cause to travel through WV once in the past eight years. That was only through the sliver in the north east side of the state, so the real gaps of I-79 or I-64. Like parts of New Hampshire, it seems easy enough to do a slower destination charging-based trip to the scenic parts, but traveling through at pace is a challenge unless the EV has Supercharger access. Definitely an example where NEVI or VW funding could quickly bridge the gaps.
Thanks for putting this together!
Thanks for watching!
Keep up the good info steve.
Thanks for watching 🙏
Texas chose parties that proposed chargers that cost FOUR times as much as Tesla chargers. Not a very efficient way to spend money.
Texas definitely has an odd relationship with Tesla, given that the company has fully embraced the state as home. Still not allowing direct sales at Tesla stores and NEVI awards are just a couple of areas, though Texas was fully supportive of NACS in its guidance.
A Pilot/Flying J site here in Oklahoma was built months ago but still has not been turned on. It really is not a big deal, though, because there are EA and Francis Electric sites just 20 miles away in two directions. This site will not be improving EV charging availability at all because of the close nearby sites. The money would have been FAR better utilized in providing charging coverage in some of the huge gaps that currently exist, but the provisions of NEVI funding dictate that the money must be spent along Interstates instead of other US or State highways.
The P-FJ site is 100% privately funded, so they probably didn't take much consideration around competing locations. Oklahoma's first round of NEVI funds went to only Love's, Francis, and Tesla in April, so I wouldn't expect to see much progress on construction until later this year at the earliest (more likely 2025).
@@plugandplayEV OK, cool. So when this round of NEVI funding’s sites have been built, Tesla will have a total of 8 Supercharger sites in Oklahoma. All of those will be in the northeast quarter of the state except the one at Weatherford. Hardly an equitable distribution in my opinion. Adding two more Supercharger sites within 20 miles of existing sites while ignoring 3/4 of the state does nothing to help with EV charging availability for that brand. Why cannot Tesla just look at their map of sites and decide to fill in a 175 mile gap without requiring federal funding to do so? They have done that very thing all over the country without federal funding, so what is the difference? A year ago there was just one Supercharger site between Amarillo and Dallas, but now there are 6, all built without federal funding.
I do not count Francis sites because their existing sites mostly do not work, have been broken for over 2 years, or are limited to 50 kw, so if they cannot fix their current sites for over 2 years, there should be no reason to believe any new sites they build will be any better, regardless of the requirements.
@@glenngore6609 I haven't fully mapped this out in my head, but the first round of OK will live or die with Love's. Site breakdown was as follows:
Love’s I-40 exit 287 in Webbers Falls, I-40 exist 140 at Morgan Road in Oklahoma City, I-40 exist 200 in Seminole, I-44 exit 5 in Randlett, I-35 exit 186 in Perry, I-40 exit 221 in Okemah, I-35 exit 157 in Guthrie and I-40 exit 166 in Choctaw.
Tesla, three sites: the I-44 exit 240 in Catoosa, the I-40 exist 240B in Henryetta and the I-44 exit 125B in Oklahoma City.
Francis Energy, two sites on I-40, exit 308 in Sallisaw and a second on I-40, exit 1 in Thackerville.
Hopefully neither of those Francis sites are super-critical, as I have the same reservations as you re. that CPO.
@@plugandplayEV The sites along I-40 east of Oklahoma City are definitely needed as there is currently only one place to charge a CCS vehicle now between OKC and Sallisaw, at Okemah, since the Francis site in Shawnee was destroyed by the tornado a couple years ago and never rebuilt. Why aren’t they replacing it? As for Teslas, there is no Supercharger between OKC and Van Buren, Arkansas, so at least one new one along I-40 is desperately needed. The Superchargers in the Tulsa area are not needed as there are already several Superchargers there, while there are none in the northwest quarter or the panhandle or the southeast quarter of Oklahoma at all.
The rest of the new sites are located within short distances of existing charging sites, so the need in those locations is not serious considering the lack of charging sites in the southeast quarter of Oklahoma especially. There are a few Francis sites in those areas, but I would never rely on Francis if I was on a road trip, ever!
The problem with this entire round of funding is that any new site must be located along an Interstate highway, which leaves out the vast majority of the state since we only have I-35, 40, and 44. Oklahoma cannot even place charging sites along any of the turnpikes in this round! Except of course, the Will Rogers, Turner, and H.E. Bailey turnpikes but only one of those, the H.E. Bailey, is getting a new site.
One more question: Why don’t the Chickasaws have DC fast charging available at the Winstar facility? Surely they have the funds to do that. I could ask the same question to every tribe in Oklahoma who has a casino, that are located in almost every town in the state, why they are not building EV charging facilities at those casinos?
Wyoming didn’t bother with NEVI because their request for a waiver to the 50 mile distance requirement was denied by the Feds. Great example of perfect being the enemy of the good.
I am wondering what is going on with Florida. I know that there are many new DCFC being installed there. As it's the state number 2 in how many EVs are registered.
Definitely a weird one. My instinct would be intentional slow-walking for political ends but there can be other reasons, such as the depth of existing infrastructure actually slowing things down or a desire to see what other states do first. I'll dig a little deeper and focus on individual states as updates continue, thanks.
Does a web page/site exist that provides an overview of the complete process? I’m interested in understanding the relationship between the states awards, the site hosts, the contractors and the operators. Thnx for the updates!
The processes vary state-to-state, as they all submitted customized plans rooted in the same NEVI foundation (AFCs filled first, power minimums, within 1 mile of AFC exit etc.) The individual state plans are all linked from this page: driveelectric.gov/state-plans
The DriveElectric site also provides quarterly updates with a focus on recent state announcements, like this one: driveelectric.gov/news/q2-2024-quarterly-nevi-update
The answer is no. I think you should contact the Federal DOT and request a web page. The 2024 plans do not agree with the presentation that each state posts on RUclips per this summer's DOT NEVI Zoom meetings.
Looking forward to some sites opening here in CO.
Surprised myself that Colorado hasn't been right up there with the leading states on construction, given the generous EV incentives and the relatively early awards (fourth quickest state to announce actual sites). Hopefully we'll see some widespread progress and further rounds of awards this summer.
@@plugandplayEV That's something that I'm keep an eye on. Keeps me a touch paused on getting an E Moto (like the Energica Experia is having more places for a mid day top up.
Nada in Idaho
Thanks for the confirmation. How does it look for private DCFC in Idaho? Any action beyond Tesla?
Now that federal dollars are being spent, are the "stalls" protected from ICE'ing? Can someone ICE'ing a stall be ticketed? What good is spending all this taxpayer money if the stalls are NOT PROTECTED? If not this is a waste of money and probably doomed to failure?
This usually comes down to the site host/location, rather than how the site has been funded. Private property owners can enforce warnings/towing as they see fit. In practice, as long as the charging spaces are away from the main entrance of the property, I rarely see combustion vehicles parked blocking chargers these days. EVs sitting idle, charging to 100%, or sometimes not plugged in at all is much more common.