Suggested Citation:
Yang, Hong, Lewis Fulton, Alissa Kendall (2024)

A Review of Charging Infrastructure Requirements for US Electric Light-Duty Vehicles

The US electric vehicle (EV) market has grown exponentially, thanks in part to ambitious EV sales targets, vehicle purchase incentives, and investments in EV manufacturing. To continue expanding the market, charging infrastructure investment needs to be adequately aligned with vehicle growth. This requires a holistic strategy with coordinated effort and aggressive investments. There have been few efforts estimating the investment needs for a national EV charging infrastructure, and a comparison of such investment needs with others like vehicle investment is lacking. This study is the first known effort that provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of infrastructure assessments and associated investment in the US to 2030. Seventeen reviewed studies have notably different scopes and assumptions, including treatment of charger type, home charging accessibility and charging behavior. Reviewed studies estimate that 13 to 30 million EV chargers for light-duty vehicles will be needed in the US by 2030, and associated investment can be up to $97 billion cumulatively through 2030, surpassing the $24 billion announced investments. Such investments may surpass those for other vehicle investments in the coming years as EV stock increases. The charger-to-vehicle ratio in reviewed studies ranges from 0.5 to 1.2 charger/vehicle, with an average of 0.8 charger/vehicle in the US in 2030. Most studies recommend expediting and streamlining permitting along with policy supports like EV-ready building codes to encourage timely and sufficient charging infrastructure. Additional investments from the private sector via innovative business models, and more public investment will also accelerate the charging infrastructure buildout tremendously.