The Biden administration's efforts to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations that received billions of dollars in funding from Congress have thus far yielded just seven functioning chargers, which Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., called "pathetic" progress on Wednesday.
The seven charging stations consist of a few dozen total charging ports and were funded under a 2021 federal law, said Shailen Bhatt, who heads the Federal Highway Administration, at a Senate Environment and Public Works committee hearing.
"That is pathetic. We're now three years into this… That is a vast administrative failure," said Merkley. "Something is terribly wrong, and it needs to be fixed."
Merkley also criticized existing federal highway rules for preventing the installation of EV charging stations at rest stops.
BIDEN ADMIN OFFICIAL SAYS HIGHER TARIFFS ON CHINESE EVS ARE CRUCIAL FOR US AUTOMAKERS
Bhatt said he, too, is frustrated by the slow pace and acknowledged, "There are a number of problems." Among those, he noted that states are dealing with multiple programs as they look to tap into funding for EV charger installations.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Tom Carper, D-Del., said he is considering holding a hearing on the slow deployment of EV charging stations.
"We want to make sure that the federal money that we have allocated is being used for the right purposes," Carper said.
AMERICANS ARE STILL NOT SOLD ON EVS DESPITE BIDEN PUSH, POLL SHOWS
The latest criticism of the EV charging station rollout comes after Republican lawmakers in February raised concerns about the EV program and said at the time that "little progress has been made."
The Biden administration has set a goal of increasing the size of the charging network to 500,000 ports, including high-speed chargers, that are located no more than 50 miles apart on the busiest highways in the country.
Bhatt said the U.S. had a total of about 183,000 public charging stations as of December and that the number of fast-charging ports available to the public has grown by 90% since the start of the Biden administration. He also expressed confidence the U.S. will reach the 500,000 charging port goal.
MANY CONSUMERS STAYING AWAY FROM EVS DUE TO LACK OF CHARGING AVAILABILITY: REPORT
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that 27 states have issued commercial requests to build charging stations and that she expects about 1,000 EV-charging stations in public places to be operational by the end of 2024.
"These are the hardest ones to do," Granholm said, adding that some areas slated for charging stations don't have electricity yet.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
A recent study by J.D. Power found that car shoppers are slightly less likely to consider purchasing an EV than they were a year ago, with the lack of charging station availability the leading reason, with 52% of respondents citing that as the reason they're less interested in EVs.
That figure is up 3 percentage points from a year ago, which J.D. Power suggested may be "a sign that concerns about public charging infrastructure are only getting worse."
Reuters contributed to this report.
