Biden sets 50 percent sales goal for electric vehicles by 2030

President Joe Biden set a new goal in the development of the U.S. electric-vehicle (EV) market, although he provided few new details on how the accompanying expansion of charging infrastructure to keep the green machines humming will be accomplished.

An executive order unveiled at the White House Thursday pledges to make half of all new passenger vehicles sold by 2030 zero-emission vehicles, including hybrids, and full EVs powered by battery or fuel cell. The goal of the non-binding order is to dramatically increase the current sales of EVs, which currently account for a mere 2 percent of new vehicles sold annually.

“All-American-made clean vehicles,” said Biden during a signing ceremony attended by leaders of the Big Three automakers and United Auto Workers as well as congressional representatives from Michigan.

Biden capped off the event by taking the wheel of a new EV version of the Jeep Rubicon. “Zero to 60 in 4.1 seconds and it’s all electric,” Biden said before urging General Motors CEO Mary Barra to create an EV version of the venerable Chevrolet Corvette.

The promise of snazzy cars and “good paying jobs” was a major theme of the announcement, in addition to the primary goal of electrifying transportation as a means of corralling climate change. Biden said his action was a major step in boosting a fledgling industry and to “strengthen American leadership” in the EV sector, which the White House said was becoming increasingly dominated by China and other more-aggressive countries.

Biden has already proposed $7.5 billion of funding for a major nationwide expansion of EV charging stations; however, those funds were rolled into his massive Build Back Better infrastructure package, which has run into stiff opposition in Congress and faces an unknown fate.

In urging Congress to move forward on the Build Back Better plan, Biden called it a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to overhaul American roads, bridges and other transportation features.

“It transforms our infrastructure,” he said. “That includes putting IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) to work installing a national network of 500,000 charging stations along our roads and highways and at our homes and apartments.”

The goal falls in line with the EV industry’s expectations of an electric utility-led system consisting of charging stations at strategic locations along highways and at workplaces and public locations where motorists can wait for the charging process to be completed rather than conveniently topping off their gas tanks in a matter of minutes. The key, however, will be home-charging units installed in residential garages that will leisurely charge an EV overnight, leaving it “topped off” in time for the morning commute.

A report last month by the International Council on Clean Transportation estimated the nation would need nearly 2.5 million charging stations nationwide if EVs made up just 36 percent of new car sales in 2030; there were around 216,000 stations in operation last year.

“The transportation sector currently represents the largest source of carbon emissions in the U.S. economy, and we are committed to working with President Biden and other leaders across the administration to help build the electric vehicle charging infrastructure we need to accelerate the electrification of the transportation sector and reduce vehicle emissions,” Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), said Thursday. “EEI and our member companies commend the Biden administration for proposing new rules to help reduce emissions from passenger and other light-duty vehicles,” added Kuhn, whose association represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies.

The utility industry has already closed ranks to lead the planning for a rapid expansion of EV charging networks, which will be powered by utility companies that will require a significant increase in capacity at a time when it is also pulling back from fossil-fuel power plants in favor of renewables. The Electric Highway Coalition (EHC) announced last week that it had doubled its membership of major utilities to 14 companies serving more than 60 million customers since launching in March.

“We want to make sure rapid charging is as easily available along major highways as traditional gas stations,” Calvin Butler, CEO of Exelon Utilities, said in announcing his company’s membership in the EHC. “Our partnership with the Electric Highway Coalition will help alleviate range anxiety by creating convenient, rapid charging stations that will give travelers confidence they can rely on electric vehicles for long distance travel wherever they need to go.”

The EHC blueprint calls for utilities to place charging stations less than 100 miles apart along major highway corridors. Stations would feature at least two charging stations, each with a capacity of 100 kilowatts and would complete the charging process in 20-to-30 minutes. Individual utilities would develop their own deployment and pricing strategies as well as specific equipment.

A previous study by nine western utilities on EV truck transportation along the Interstate 5 corridor from California to the Pacific Northwest determined that utilities probably had enough capacity in urban areas, but more remote regions along the massive highway could require the expansion of transmission, which will likely require lead times of multiple years to plan and carry out.

Biden’s executive order could add a new jolt to expanding EV charging infrastructure since the automakers say convincing customers to buy an EV ‘Vette or some other electric car depends on having the means to recharge. The electric utility industry will shoulder that responsibility. EEI’s Kuhn said, “Our member companies are leading a clean energy transformation across the nation, and electrifying the transportation sector will be critical to delivering a carbon-free future to the customers and communities that we serve.”