A group of 28 House Democrats are calling on congressional leaders to back funding for EV charging infrastructure that would amount to $85 billion, a big jump over current proposals.
Led by Debbie Dingell and Yvette Clarke, the lawmakers said that the extra funding would “help add utility electrical capacity to enable robust charging, increasing the supply of renewable energy, and build grid resilience in the face of climate change.”
Another bill already under consideration in Congress has $7.5 billion in EV charging infrastructure, by contrast. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, called for $15 billion to build 500,000 EV charging stations as well as $100 billion in consumer incmetives, as part of a wider infrastructure bill earlier this year.
Read Also: President Biden Aims For 50% Of New Vehicles To Be Electrified In 2030
This new $85 billion measure would be part of a separate measure that could spend up to $3.5 trillion, per Reuters.
“A rapid and extensive build-out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure supported by the federal government is crucial if consumers are to adopt zero-emission vehicles at the scale and pace needed to stave off climate catastrophe,” the lawmakers said Monday.
Along with improving charging infrastructure, the move would also electrify postal service vehicles, invest in other clean vehicles, and provide transportation tax incmetives.
The new measure follows Biden’s recmet executive order setting a target of making half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. electric by 2030. That’s not a requirement, though, and no automakers are bound to reach that target.
