mmarshall

This is not meant to be a political thread, but to announce that the Senate passed a $1 Trillion+ National-Infrastructure bill, and the bill includes $7.5 Billion for new EV charging stations.....something that many of us in Car Chat have agreed is critically important if we are ever going to have an adequate network for electric vehicles. Dave and the moderators has asked us not to discuss politics, but, if anyone wants to discuss (or further-discuss) the EV provisions in it, here might be the place for it. I myself was glad to hear it, as, even though I am not a particularly big EV fan, I recognize the need for the charging-stations, and I'll admit that EVs have several advantages over ICE vehicles, mainly in less complexity and maintenance. Whether that Federal money actually helps get charging-stations into my condo-development, though, remains to be seen (I'm not holding my breath LOL)...I suspect that most of them will be built in public places and in public businesses.

The bill still needs to pass the House and receive the President's signature, but I'm fairly confident that will happen.

I had some problems trying to copy/paste one of the links, but you can access it here:


https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/how-...-spending.html

LeX2K

Problem I have with this bill it is will give rebates to plug in hybrid vehicles they qualify as zero emissions for some reason. This to me is not progress at all and will simply prolong the legacy car companies building gas engines. The entire thing is a golden carrot for the big 3 and a big F you to Tesla and other pure EV auto makers simply because they don't have union workers. I wonder if the Mach E will qualify for the rebate since it is make in Mexico, and what about Stellantis they are not even a U.S. auto maker.

RXSF

yah I saw this on the news. 7 billion for charging stations, but 60 billion for expanding high speed internet access? I mean everyone should have internet, but I guess we know where the real priorities are.

Also saw that the senate passed phasing out the 7500 tax credit for those who make more than 100K and also cars over 40K won't get the credit.

mmarshall

It also doesn't necessarily tell us what kind of charging stations they will be..or if they will (presumably) be state-of-the-art. 110-120-volt chargers, for example, take 8 hours (effectively overnight) to charge a typical EV. A 400-volt charger, in contrast, can often do the job in 20 minutes.

Toys4RJill

This is a great investment in America.

LeX2K

The most American car company was snubbed at the recent dog and pony show. But yea 'Merica.

RNM GS3

Unions have the power so Tesla was left out!
Unfortunately it’s all a game, but don’t want to get into politics just stating a fact.

Och

iTrader: (3)

There are going to be a ton of sweet contracts for those on the inside.

JeffKeryk

Well, Tesla built their own charging network. Around the world. And continues to expand.
I am not sure if this is fair, but why can't "the big guys" do the same?

One thing is, I would like to see America lead for once instead of ceding the technology to China. This is a step in that direction.
Just my 2 cents...

Toys4RJill

Because the established manufacturers want to build and manufacture cars. They don’t want to build the chargers. Manufacturing cars is what they are good at. (I think) Toyota is on pace for a $37 billion dollar worldwide profit for the year, building out charging stations is not in their best interest

sg021

I'm pretty sure OEMs held out because almost none of them had viable EVs for traveling far until very recently, and that they most likely knew a day would come when someone else would foot the bill.
Hopefully the funds will be used wisely. If you want to encourage adoption in the near term it would help to fund L3 in urban areas and L2 in urban parking garages and workplaces. If we end up with a hodge podge of poorly maintained L3 chargers scattered along highways by each state and an L2 charger for every Target and grocer then it's going to be very little bang for the buck.
On the tax credit side I certainly understand the income and price limitations should exist, but what exactly are we trying to encourage? $40k ceiling on car price is going to push cars to lower range and smaller in the near term based on the prices of what's out there now. The Leaf is really the only thing you can get with options at that price. It's very hard to imagine EV adoption being helped by the credit in the first half of the decade with those restrictions, probably actually hurts compared to the existing credit.

tex2670

Correct. Tesla sees itself as much or more of a "tech" company than an auto manufacturer.

Toys4RJill

But they really just are an electric vehicle manufacturer. (The established manufacturers know that). The whole "tech" thing is nonsense. Too many fan-blogs pushing a false narrative. Building electrical outlets doesn't make them a "tech" all of a sudden.

chuckNX

Most if not all states charge vehicle registration fees and gas taxes to help pay for roads. Since EV's don't use gas, I wonder how long before the registration fees for EV's go up 10x. Maybe after a certain percentage of cars on the road are EVs? But the day is coming.

TriC

The day is already here in Ohio where there is a $200 surcharge for annual plates for BEVs and PHEVs and $100 for hybrids. This is on top of the standard fee of way less than $100 (fee varies a bit by county).