Even blue states think Biden’s EV charging station plan needs a reality check

By Thomas Catenacci

Several western states, including the Democrat-led New Mexico and Colorado, have pushed back on President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle plans, saying they aren’t feasible.

The states — which also include Utah, Wyoming and Montana — said it wouldn’t be possible to construct the number of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that the Biden administration has outlined as necessary in its climate agenda, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The Department of Transportation (DOT) saidThursday states receiving federal funds for EV charging stations must position such facilities every 50 miles along highways as part of its $5 billion plan to build a national charging network unveiled in February.

“I would definitely appreciate more flexibility around charging infrastructure and rest areas,” Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said, according to the WSJ.

Polis and Republican Idaho Gov. Brad Little asked the DOT in January to ensure states had discretion on the construction and placement of EV chargers in a letter on behalf of the Western Governors Association (WGA), a coalition of all 22 western governors. In 2021, the WGA issued a special report on EV infrastructure which stated western states have struggled to meet defined metrics, like the requirement for infrastructure to be built every 50 miles, previously outlined by federal agencies.

“There are plenty of places in Montana and other states here out West where it’s well more than 50 miles between gas stations,” Rob Stapley, the head of the Right of Way Bureau at the Montana Department of Transportation, told the WSJ. “Even if there’s an exit, or a place for people to pull off, the other big question is: Is there anything on the electrical grid at a location or even anywhere close to make that viable?”

“There’s physically nothing there,” Reiner told the WSJ. “We think the return on investment is pretty tough.”

Wyoming Department of Transportation Director Luke Reiner similarly noted there is a 70-mile stretch on Interstate 90 without a gasoline station to house federally-funded EV stations.

In addition, federal regulation dating back decades prevents much commercial activity at highway rest stops with electricity. The rules, put in place to protect off-highway business development, often prevent the construction of charging stations at such stops, according to the WSJ.

“The reason those exist is that there’s nowhere else to stop,” Joe De La Rosa, an official at the New Mexico Department of Transportation, told the WSJ. “This is the middle of nowhere. There’s no lighting, there’s no sidewalk, there’s nothing to do while you’re there, there’s no power grid.”

The White House did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Image courtesy of Vermont Agency of Natural Resources

5 thoughts on “Even blue states think Biden’s EV charging station plan needs a reality check

  1. Before we set up a whole new standard for personal transportation and how we fuel it, I dont know that we have thoroughly investigated which way to go. Electric drive is a no-brainer, as it has been with diesel-electric locomotives since the end of the steam age. The question is: how do we store that energy on board the vehicle? The options are battery vs hydrogen fuel cell. NASA figured out back in the Gemini program that batteries were just not going to cut it for multiday missions and every spacecraft since then has carried hydrogen to “burn” in fuel cells to produce electricity.
    The advantage on Earth is that fueling with liquid hydrogen is as fast as our current liquid petrol fillup and the oxygen to complete the fuel-cell reaction is available in the air. Before we jump whole-hog into battery storage electric vehicles which require time and driving strategy to charge up, we had better answer this question. We have been spoiled for 100+ years with personal vehicles which take 5 minutes to fuel to take us 200-400 miles and going back to a system like horses which take extended time to feed/fuel will not be a good marketing feature.

  2. Henry Ford had a great vision, but before he could market and sell his affordable conveyances, he made damn sure that the infrastructure to fuel them was already in place.

  3. Well hey, if their plan is to eventually have roughly 50% of Vermont land turned over to the state anyway , they can just take all the empty homes and turn them into charging stations.
    Problem solved!

  4. I cannot get over how “short-sighted” this administration is……and how many have jumped on the wagon. It is Crazy making …no wonder the USA is going to H…. in a Handbasket
    I can’t see how electric cars improve the planet; if you follow how that all happens and works
    and if we go electric (i’m not calling it green because..it’s not)
    one needs to make a plan…..it is not going to happen on the timeline presented to us without a BOATLOAD of cost and consequences to all of us……
    wow the lack of common sense is just overwhelming…….

  5. Of course it needs a Reality check, the man has historically proven himself to be a idiot wrapped in a moron,smothered in imbecile sauce but given the facts the Marxist left uses their platform as a religion.
    In their religions core is the destruction of America and as such they worship the taking of babies lives, civilian disarmament and the end of fossil fuels, no matter how insane those goals are

Comments are closed.