Electric vehicle charging should be as convenient as refilling petrol: Report

Electric vehicles' charging infrastructure should be as easy to access as accessing a petrol pump, says a report by NPR. The report points out how the US government is aiming to build a robust network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers, which would cost the government billions of dollars. The report also claims that this strategy will address the range anxiety and other concern of the EV owners.

Range anxiety has been one of the major reasons behind the sluggish growth of electric vehicles. While accessing a petrol pump is very easy, finding and getting an EV charging station is much more difficult due to the shortage of availability.

The US government is focusing on installing EV charging stations near the highways for the convenience of drivers and EV owners. Each of these EV charging stations will have at least four fast chargers, while all plugs will be non-proprietary. The report claims that the prevalence of EV chargers will make ownership of an electric vehicle less stressful and offer the convenience of an ICE powered vehicle sans the tailpipe emissions. The US currently has more than 150,000 petrol pumps across the country, which is more than three times the amount of electric vehicle chargers available there.

Also, the electric vehicle chargers need to hugely surpass the petrol refilling stations as EVs require significantly more time compared to petrol or diesel vehicles for refuelling or recharging. Also, the number of fast chargers should be adequate that can top up the EVs in as little as 15 to 45 minutes.