California Researcher Suggests That Tweaking EV Charger Subsidies Could Address Consumer Concerns

A recent study by a California-based researcher has revealed that policymakers could address consumer concerns of range anxiety by tweaking existing electric-vehicle-charger subsidies. The study found that although range anxiety is still a barrier to electric vehicle adoption in the United States, it is a solvable problem that can be alleviated.

Adjusting the current federal charging-station-subsidies program to penalize charging outages and incentivize successful usage would be more effective at mitigating public charging concerns, the expert says.

Although battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were originally expected to replace the fossil-fuel-powered cars on American roads to help the country limit its greenhouse-gas emissions, electric vehicle adoption has been extremely slow since Tesla first launched the Roadster more than a decade ago. High prices coupled with sparse and often unreliable charging infrastructure across most of the country have consistently hindered EV adoption.

Even as electric-vehicle prices have cooled in the wake of a fierce price discount war between Tesla and a myriad of Chinese EV makers, the unreliability of public charging is still preventing many drivers from making the switch to electric cars. Andrew Campbell, executive director of the University of California’s Energy Institute at Haas, explains that “poor charger reliability” has negatively impacted consumer confidence in battery electric cars.

Consequently, investing in public-charging stations is unlikely to boost electric-vehicle adoption in any meaningful way if drivers still have reservations about public-charging facilities, Campbell wrote in a recent blog post. As most of America’s public-EV-charging infrastructure is concentrated in the Western region, there are vast swathes of the country with barely any access to EV charging.

Furthermore, Campbell points out, a 2023 JD Power survey suggested that every one in five attempts to use a public EV charger fails, meaning consumers with access to charges don’t always have a smooth experience. According to Campbell, many American consumers will only switch to a battery electric car if public charging is “widespread and reliable.” He adds that since the federal government has committed to building out America’s public-charging network, state agencies as well as the Federal Highway Administration should ensure the public chargers are reliable.

In comparison, petrol and diesel refueling stations in the country are in such abundance that the average driver will never worry about not finding a gas station. As the federal government builds out the country’s public-charging infrastructure, providing incentives for stations with consistently functional chargers and penalizing stations with regular outages will go a long way toward encouraging reliability and building customer confidence.

If these suggestions are implemented by the relevant authorities, they could supplement the other efforts that individual companies such as Workhorse Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WKHS) are taking to deepen their market penetration in the short and long run.

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