Jon Alain Guzik on the State of America's Electric Vehicle Charging Network
Jon Alain Guzik discusses the current and future state of America’s EV charging network. (Photo courtesy: Tesla)
The current and future state of America’s electric vehicle charging networks.
By: Lucas Rostler
One of the biggest cases against buying an electric vehicle right now is the charging network throughout America, more specifically, the lack thereof. What is your view on the current state of charging throughout the country and also just in California, where Borrow is based?
Nationwide, I think it’s getting better ever so slowly. Pertaining specifically to California, honestly, I feel like we don’t have enough of the right charging stations.
As of last year, there were less than 22,000 charging stations in the Golden State, according to Environment California. The problem with the 22,000 charging stations in California, and charging stations across the country, is that they’re not fast enough.
Currently, electric vehicles have these massive batteries because we’re concerned with range, range, range. With level two charging stations - like the ones you see on streets and in most parking lots - it takes forever to charge these batteries. Four, six, eight hours, or longer at 7.2 kWh an hour. So, you may go into your local mall and plug in your car and you’ll get a dozen or two miles of range after an hour or two. This isn’t fast enough.
I think charging stations across America need to be much, much faster. You need faster DC fast charging, at least 150 kWh, and you need these stations to be in places where people can go and charge up and not have to wait a few hours.
Can you tell me a little more about the current network?
The current network as it stands is like this. Imagine you’re living on the 60th floor of a high-rise building, but you’re not taking the stairs anymore because there’s something called an elevator. But the problem is that the elevator is really slow, and it stops at every floor. So, it’s an elevator, but it’s a really slow elevator that doesn’t work very well. That’s kind of where we are right now.
And I think DC fast charging and turning charging into a service rather than an amenity will go a long way for improving the network’s quality. The big thing, in terms of a service, is that if your customer satisfaction is low, then people aren’t going to use your charger. If your customer service is high and the quality of your charging station is high, that will go a long way.
So, what do you think is the best way to get us to that point?
This gets into the way that the government is encouraging the purchase of EV’s through incentives, like a sizable tax deduction. The incentives relating to a charging network are already here. I won’t bore the reader with the details of grids and charging stations, but the bottom line is that the infrastructure is expensive. It costs a lot of money to put the charging station infrastructure into the ground. While the incentives are there, it’s the permitting process that needs to be worked out. Everything needs to be streamlined. This way if you want to install a DC fast charging station, you don’t have to wait 22 months to get a connection from a power company, which also raises the cost per post you put into the ground.
Beyond that, we need to start building these stations across America. We need to start building them en masse and we need to start building them quicker than we currently are. We need faster charging that costs less money to install, that are easier to permit, and that run way more efficiently. Streamlining everything from permit acquisition to installing the infrastructure necessary for these stations, which I think will happen over the next three to five years, is what is going to be a game changer. Then we’ll be able to hit that goal of a million fast charging stations in California, and eventually hundreds of millions across America. Because if not now, when?
An idea I had, and I’m curious about your thoughts on it, are charging stations on interstate highways. Specifically at rest stops. Is this realistic in your view?
They’re already doing this. The problem is that they get defaced, they get destroyed, and they’re usually slow charging stations. I think rest stops might work, but incentivizing gas stations to put in DC fast chargers would work better than rest stops. Rest stops cost a fortune and there’s not enough power there. If we can incentivize big oil to put in DC fast charging across the U.S., to the point where you won’t go more than 20 miles without having a DC fast charging station, that’s the better answer than putting them at rest stops.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Borrow is an electric vehicle subscription company with one goal: to make driving an EV as simple and accessible as possible. Borrow is the only electric vehicle subscription service of its kind with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonizing the everyday drive.