US Fast Charging Needs to Focus on Moving Faster - CleanTechnica

The article discusses the slow progress of the US National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI), which was approved in late 2021 with the goal of deploying 500,000 fast chargers by 2030. As of late 2023, only 121 stations across 16 states have been energized through NEVI, with the first charger going online that year. This pace is contrasted sharply with BYD, a Chinese company that installed over 4,500 advanced flash charging stations in just a few months, with plans to exceed 20,000 stations by year-end. BYD’s chargers offer significantly higher power (up to 1500 kW per charging gun), integrate buffer batteries and solar, and can be deployed in under a week compared to NEVI’s average 117 days per station. The article attributes NEVI’s slow rollout to numerous bureaucratic and political complications, including local supply chain development, domestic supplier restrictions, regulatory definitions, equity and union job requirements, and lengthy community