Half of all new vehicles sold in 2030, according to President Biden‘s vision of a greener future, will be electric. However, there is one major stumbling block in the way of that plan: there are not enough electrical outlets to accommodate all of the vehicles and trucks.
Public charging stations, which are the electric vehicle equivalent of petrol pumps, may be found in tens of thousands throughout the nation, with about 110,000 chargers. However, energy and automobile experts believe that number must be increased by a factor of five to ten in order to meet the president’s objective. Building that many will cost tens of billions of dollars, much more than the $7.5 billion that legislators have set out for building projects in the infrastructure legislation.
The charging sector, formerly considered a second-class citizen to the trendy business of designing and manufacturing elegant electric vehicles, has been caught up in its own gold rush. According to PitchBook, venture capital firms invested over $1 billion in charging businesses last year, which was more than they had invested in the preceding five years combined. In the first half of the year 2021, venture capital investments have totaled more than $550 million.
According to Dealogic, a research company, publicly listed special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have entered into agreements to acquire eight charging firms out of a total of 26 transactions involving electric vehicles and associated businesses. The transactions usually involve an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars from large institutional investors such as BlackRock.
Tesla, which accounts for about two-thirds of all electric vehicles sold in the United States, has installed thousands of chargers, which it has made available for free to early customers in exchange for their business. Elon Musk, the firm’s chief executive, said in July that the company may expand its network to include cars from other manufacturers by the end of the year.
The vast majority of drivers now charge their electric vehicles at home, with relatively sporadic usage of public charging stations. However, such stations will be critical, particularly for individuals who live in flats and for those who travel great distances by vehicle.
