Recent surveys have shown that younger people are showing a keen interest in electric vehicles. In the UK 50% say they would like to purchase an EV. In the USA it is about 30%. None of this is a big surprise. Young people tend to be interested in new technology, and promotion of EV’s is more advanced in the UK.
With EV’s most people have some “range anxiety” – fear of not being able to charge the vehicle when they need to. What has been learned in Europe is that that one of the most important things is to invest in a widespread charging infrastructure.
Three states in the US – California, New York and New Jersey – have recently announced a combined investment of $1.3 billion in EV charging infrastructures. The California PUC is investing up to $738 million worth of charging station projects in the next 5 years.
Southern California Edison will spend $343 million and PG&E in northern California will spend $236 million to build an infrastructure that will support thousands of medium and heavy-duty vehicles at about 1500 locations around the state.
Currently most electric cars are charged at home, using slow charging stations. But this new infrastructure will be focused on rapid charging, allowing an EV to fully charge in about 30 minutes.
This is all going to unfold in the next two years as dozens of new EV models – from many auto companies – are introduced to the marketplace.