Millions of charging ports needed to support EVs by 2030, U.S. study finds

WASHINGTON — The U.S. will need 28 million charging ports to support a scenario where 33 million electric vehicles are on the road by 2030, according to a federal study released this week.

The new analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory — a federally funded R&D center sponsored by the U.S. Energy Department and managed by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy — sought to quantify the estimated number, type and location of EV chargers needed nationwide to support a rapid adoption of light-duty EVs by the end of the decade.

There are about 2.4 million battery-electric vehicles in operation in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to Experian data as if the first quarter of 2023.

The energy laboratory's study was created in collaboration with the Energy Department's Vehicle Technologies Office and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, which is assisting with the planning and implementation of a national EV charging network funded through the 2021 infrastructure law.

"In just the past few years, we have seen historic investments into national EV infrastructure, including the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure discretionary grant program, both of which are supported by the joint office," said Eric Wood, a senior researcher who led the study's research team.

"At the same time," he said, "the study reinforces the notion that we're going to need to continue to work together — both public and private entities — to build the national network that we'll need for 2030 and beyond."

As part of the "mid-adoption scenario," the study projects the national charging infrastructure would require 182,000 publicly accessibly fast-charging ports along highways and in local communities and 1 million publicly accessible Level 2 charging ports in locations such as office buildings and retail outlets. An additional 26.8 million Level 1 and 2 charging ports would be needed at private residences and workplaces.

To achieve that scenario, a cumulative public and private capital investment of $53 billion to $127 billion in charging infrastructure — including private residential charging — would be needed by 2030, the study found. For public chargers only, the report estimates an investment of $31 billion to $55 billion.

The large range of potential capital costs is driven by "variable and evolving equipment and installation costs observed within the industry across charging networks, locations and site designs," according to the report.

As of March, an estimated $23.7 billion of capital has been announced for public charging infrastructure through 2030, including from private firms, the public sector and electric utilities.

President Joe Biden set a goal of building a national network of 500,000 public chargers by 2030. As of Wednesday, there were 140,755 public charging ports scattered across 54,195 station locations in the U.S., according to Energy Department data.

"We are on track to achieve President Biden's visionary goal of 500,000 public chargers, and we will keep going even further by harnessing private investment to meet the nation's EV charging needs identified in the study," the White House said in a fact sheet released Tuesday.

"The Biden-Harris administration remains committed to working with industry and all levels of government to ensure that the pace of investment is sustained in line with the increased demand for EVs."