America Is Finally Building a Nationwide EV Charging Network

The country's EV charging network is growing quickly. Here's why.

Getting a lot of electrons from the power grid to a car battery quickly is no easy task. 

Unlike gasoline, electricity can’t be stored in a metal barrel or tank for later use. You can’t just ship it around the country in big trucks and you can’t plop a charging station down in the middle of nowhere. There’s also the time required: Charging a car from the normal 120-volt outlets we’re all used to seeing and using—something I did when I rented my last home—can take a couple of days, a process that feels like filling up a jug of water with an eye-dropper

All of these problems are solvable. The technology to charge vehicles quickly has existed for years. But building a fast-charging network—one that feels like a network of gas stations—to support the electrification of more than 250 million vehicles over the next two decades will require a remaking of our physical world.

There’s no way around it though: Building a nationwide charging network is essential to decarbonizing transportation. “Range anxiety” gets a lot of air time and attention, but when AAA surveyed consumers last year, “charging anxiety” came in first place as the biggest barrier to EV adoption. 59% of prospective buyers were worried about a lack of charging stations. 

So how much progress has this country made towards building a nationwide fast-charging network? Every day it seems like there’s a new story in a major publication about EV sales. But much less has been written about the state of charging infrastructure. 

Over the last month, I’ve spent more hours than I would like to admit trawling through EV charging data to answer that question. In this story, I’ll cover:

• Why 2023 was a breakout year for the country’s fast-charging network 

• Where the country’s EV charging network is growing fastest (spoiler alert: it’s not where you might think)

• The impact—or rather, lack of impact—of the federal government’s $7.5 billion investment in EV charging so far

• What is driving growth in the EV charging network

• Why Tesla is no longer the only show in town when it comes to fast-chargers

• How one of the biggest cases of corporate fraud in history led to a $5 billion investment in EV charging and built 10% of America’s EV fast chargers

One quick note: In this story, I focused on Level 3 charging infrastructure and not Level 2 or Level 1 charging. Reaching net zero will require all kinds of chargers, but I was personally most interested in learning about the state of fast-charging infrastructure and suspect many of you will be too.

The EV charging network’s breakout year

Charging anxiety is a primary barrier to EV adoption today, but it may soon be a thing of the past.

Last year, more than 10,000 Level 3 fast-chargers were built in America, a dramatic acceleration of growth compared to previous years. The recent growth was so strong that more than a quarter of all the fast-charging ports in this country were built in just the last 12 months.

To reach net zero, that growth will need to continue. A study released last June by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) projected that by 2030, the U.S. will need 182,000 fast-charging ports.

Those chargers can’t just be in coastal cities or yuppie bubbles like the one I live in here in Boulder, Colorado either. They’ll need to be available in every city and county, and they’ll need to be placed along every major road in the country. 

On this front, the data is starting to look good. Not a single state in America was untouched by the EV fast-charging boom of the last year.