Many Americans are expected to transition to electric vehicles in the coming years, with experts expecting half of all car sales to be electric in 2030. But who will build and maintain the charging stations that are required to match the expected surge in demand? Cheddar News speaks with Mark Boyadjis, Global Technology Lead at S&P Global Mobility, who breaks down the details.



Closing Bell

Who Will Pay For the New Public EV Charging Stations Nationwide?

Welcome back to cheddar news is closing bell everyone. Well as the U. S. Gears up to make the switch from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles, the question remains, who will foot the bill for the massive investment in public charging infrastructure to match the expected demand. Well last year, President biden set the goal for half of new car sales to be electric by 2030 and if that does come to fruition, TVs could make up 70% of all cars on the road by 2050. So joining me now is Mark Voyages, Global technology lead at S and P. Global mobility. Mark, thank you so much for coming on the show. How many E. V. Charging stations are there in the U. S. Right now and who is paying for them to be built. Thanks for having me. Uh, that's a great question really when you think about it, the issue is trying to understand how many charges are going to be needed by what time? Okay. We have about 90-100,000 public chargers in in the ground today as it were and that's going to continue to grow over the next couple of years. But what's interesting is is the Biden administration, the investment that they put towards this. It's a considerable amount of money but it's kind of a top down approach, right? Um, each one of these 50 states that we live in 51 actually, um, if you include DC have have submitted plans to the Feds to take use of that money and now that's starting to be divvied up right? And what happens next is it has to go to the cities, the states and municipalities to actually put it in the ground. They're the ones that control the right of way and manage the permitting and the contracting and everything that goes with any sort of major construction project. And so, um, what we're seeing is a lot of investment from the federal government. But ultimately, at the end of the day, we'll have to see states put the bill on some of this as well as cities really understand how to bring that to the market at the right time and the right locations. Um, and do it in an efficient manner. Let me ask you this mark. I know there's a lot of talk about these fast charging stations and I think there is some expectation that at least utilities, public utilities will foot the bill in the beginning. But then some of these retailers, actually, private companies will be needed to actually roll out some of these fast charging stations that would look a lot like a gas station, right, restrooms, amenities, those sorts of things. What's the onus on retailers in this process? Yeah, I wouldn't call it an onus. I'd call it an opportunity. Um, retailers have recognized that electric mobility is a different user experience, right? You don't drive to fuel, you fuel where you're parking, right? And if you take that mantra and understand it a little bit deeper. A company that is interested in keeping you in their store or their restaurant longer is very much interested in giving you a charging station to use because that allows you to stay there in their restaurant, their, their facility, their retail operation a little bit longer, spend a little bit more money and, And ultimately there's an opportunity there. Um, you know, the quickest charge you can get today is somewhere in that 18-20 minute range to fill up some 50-80% of your battery. Um, results may vary, but the point being, is that still enough time where you really need to think about what kind of amenities go with that charger. Um, and that's when you have the right combination of a Dc fast charger and a vehicle that can accept it. So, the retailers and those opportunities are I think a great opportunity for the market to, to make charging better for that end user charging where they park. Are there any ripple effects? I mean, it seems like a simple equation, right? These are public charging stations. Taxpayers pay the government, the government is saying we have to implement all the charging stations, but are there other ways that consumers or retailers might get hit right dynamic pricing? It seems like it might be a factor at play here. Yeah, So the operator of the charging station may or may not come into play with a demand charge, right, which comes, it's really um, a term that defines when the electricity demand is high. And so, charging a vehicle at that point in time can potentially be a detriment to the network right to the grid. Um, it charges, you know, it requires the utilities to put more electricity into the grid at that point in time to meet the demand. Um, ways you can offset that is by putting battery backups or solar arrays into the charging stations, you know, so that you can offset the grid pole, um, and then consumers, I mean, they are going to foot the bill at times, but most of the times we don't expect to see rates very dramatically based upon what time you choose to charge. Um, it might be more relevant to the dc fast charge environment than a C charging. What is the timeline that you think some of the charging stations and mass will start to be rolled out and effective Mark. Well, like I said, there's already about 100,000 on the road, you know, available today. So, uh, if you don't think there's charging stations nearby, I would take a second look. There's probably something out there. But as we think about the deployment, the Biden administration and the momentum that the industry has, we'll see many, many thousands of charges, tens of thousands of chargers installed each year. But it takes time. I mean, all of the fundamental, you know, construction and permitting and operations. There's a lot of different utility stakeholders that need to take um, you know, a part in that operation. And so ultimately it does take some time. But by the 2025 2028 timeframe, I think we'll have a really good charging network um nationwide in the US. Just very quickly before I let you go, Mark, how confident are you that there will be demand to meet this rollout of electric vehicles, demand for charging or for the vehicle, customer demand for the vehicles. It's very high, right. We're seeing a lot of interest in these vehicles. The O E. M. S are producing them as fast as they can and with gas prices the way they are, they're not necessarily going to come down in a drastic degree. Um the total cost of ownership for an electric vehicle is much less and money talks and it's not going to change anytime soon. Okay, we'll be watching Mark Voyages, Global Technology Leader, S and P global mobility. Mark, thank you so much