Biden administration ups charging funding

The US is making funding of $51mn available to improve the country’s charging network and also launching a National Charging Experience consortium, or Charge X, to support rollout.

The Ride and Drive Electric funding opportunity, as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, may be relatively modest in monetary terms, but aims to spur private sector investments in clean transportation. It will be administered by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation —which brings together both the US energy and transport ministries.

The Joint Office will also fund the Department of Energy (DoE) Idaho National Laboratory to lead, in partnership with the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Charge X, which aims to “rapidly develop solutions that ensure an easy and reliable charging experience for all Americans”. The stated objective of ChargeX is to help the EV industry achieve first-time plug-in success every time a customer uses public charging infrastructure.