Electric Vehicle Limbo: The Need for Charging Incentives

Authors

Shahil Patel

Abstract

A study published by AAA in 2018 shows, “20 percent or 50 million Americans, will likely go electric for their next vehicle purchase.” This means that 1/5 Americans plan on moving on from their previous gasoline car to an electric vehicle. Fast forward to 2021, electric vehicle technology has vastly improved in the battery, range, and charging spheres which further popularizes this movement. It is evident that companies have taken note, as announcements of new electric vehicles coming to the market keeps increasing. There are many reasons for this shift and electric vehicles are set to become the future. However, there are obstacles that must be overcome for electric vehicles to take over the road. Generally, two main concerns for consumers are running out of charge while driving and the poor electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the United States. On the other hand, there are not that many electric vehicle charging incentives for businesses like gas stations to warrant such a major investment. Summarized, consumers do not want to buy electric vehicles without a better charging infrastructure and businesses do not have enough incentives to build that better charging infrastructure—hence, the electric vehicle “limbo”. This highlights the need to start developing the EV charging infrastructure now rather than later. To get out of this limbo, the federal government needs to further incentivize electric vehicle charging stations for gas stations.

Recommended Citation

Shahil Patel, Electric Vehicle Limbo: The Need for Charging Incentives, 8 Emory Corp. Governance & Accountability Rev. 75 (2021).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/ecgar/vol8/iss1/5