Charging your electric vehicle (EV) on the road may soon become easier, but experts say more needs to be done to maintain energy levels during long journeys.
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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced standards aimed at making the nation’s EV charging network easier to use, with similar payment systems, pricing information, charging speeds and more. The proposed rule would set the stage for states to build federally funded charging station projects in a national EV charging network.
“For long-distance travel, a robust network of chargers along major routes, such as highway rest areas, is needed,” Jeremy Michalek, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering who studies EVs, told Lifewire in an email interview. “But it’s tricky because demand for chargers will be significantly higher on peak days, such as holidays, than on normal days, and it takes longer to charge an electric vehicle than it does to fill up a gas tank.”
But, Michalek said, "If the network is sized for normal days, there will be huge lines and huge wait times on peak travel days. If the network is sized for peak travel days, there will be a lot of investment in infrastructure that will go unused on most days."
