Time USA - October 23, 2017

34 TIME October 23, 2017

The ViewSmart Auto

IN THE CENTURY SINCE THE DAWN OF THE MASS-MARKET
car, more than 100,000 gas stations have popped up along the
country’s 4 million miles of roads and highways—and a stop to
refuel became a crucial part of the quintessential U.S. road trip.
But the heyday of the gas station as a place to refuel is prob-
ably drawing to a close. Analysts project that sales of electric
vehicles will outnumber sales of gas-powered cars by mid-
century. That means a wholesale rethinking of the infrastruc-
ture that consumers use to charge their batteries
Powering that electric-car fleet will require a dramatic
increase in public charging stations from the 16,000 ac-
tive today—and fast. How many will be needed? That’s a bit
unclear, but a good estimate from the Department of Energy
(DOE) is four plugs for every 100 plug-in electric vehicles.
The number of electric vehicles sold annually—including both
plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars—is expected to grow
from around 160,000 in 2016 to 1.5 million by 2030, assuming
current federal tax incentives remain in place, according to the
Energy Information Administration.

LESS CLEARis who, exactly, is responsible for creating charg-
ing stations. “The question is up in the air,” says John Hey-
wood, a professor emeritus of engineering at MIT who has
studied electric vehicles. “Questions need to be answered
before we sort things out.”
Automakers, power companies, third-party charging com-
panies and federal, state and local governments may all have a
vested interest in electric-vehicle infrastructure. That does not
mean any of them are rushing to build them.
That’s partly because, at the moment, charging stations
remain largely unprofitable. There is little incentive for private
charging companies to invest without a guarantor. So auto-
makers and governments have stepped in, working with charg-
ing companies on their own piecemeal initiatives.
Charging stations are popping up in parking garages and
public spaces. Tesla offers its drivers chargers along its own
charging corridor, providing coast-to-coast driving access.
BMW and Nissan have joined together to fund their own high-
powered charging stations. And Volkswagen committed $2 bil-
lion to developing charging points in a settlement over its
fraudulent diesel emissions scheme.
States from California to Connecticut have also commit-
ted to the effort, offering various grants and incentives to com-
panies building charging points. This month several Western
governors from a group that includes Colorado, Utah and Wyo-
ming laid out plans for 5,000 miles of charging stations.
These efforts will rapidly expand the ability to charge on
the go, but most remain in early days, leaving consumers
to fare largely for themselves. As a result, more than 85% of
charging happens at home, according to DOE. That solution

Electric vehicles are here.

Now we need to figure out

how to charge them

By Justin Worland

is convenient for suburban drivers who

can easily power up in a home garage

but inaccessible for urban dwellers and

long-distance commuters. “If you buy a

battery electric vehicle, you need to buy

a home recharger,” says Heywood. “Well,

that implies you have a home.”

INDUSTRY ANALYSTSare betting that

tech advances will unlock the golden age

of charging. Most drivers today charge

at home using a regular outlet, but DC

charging can do the same job in a fraction

of the time and is growing fast in popu-

larity on roadsides. “A lot of early adopt-

ers would have been reluctant without

the chargers at home,” says Graham

Evans, an auto-technology analyst at the

market-research firm IHS Markit. “The

next wave will see the chargers around.”

Analysts expect the option to ex-

pand even further as the time for a long-

distance charge declines to around 10

to 15 minutes. That’s a bit longer than it

takes to fill a tank. But on a road trip, be-

tween bathroom breaks and snack selec-

tion, not necessarily a delay. □

10%

The percentage

of charging that

currently takes

place at a public

charging station

58%

The percentage of

new-car sales in

the U.S. expected

to be electric

by 2040

30

The time, in

minutes, it takes

to add 90 miles

of range to a

Chevy Bolt with a

high-power

DC charger

SOURCES:

PLUGINSIGHTS;

BNEF

ILLUSTRATION BY SYD WEILER FOR TIME