US electric vehicle charging network strategy being released

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is set to release a federal strategy Monday to implement an ambitious plan to build 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles across the country and ultimately transform the U.S. auto industry.

The $1 trillion infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed last month authorizes the charging stations and sets aside $5 billion for states, with a goal to build a national charging network. The law also provides an additional $2.5 billion for local grants to support charging stations in rural areas and in disadvantaged communities.

“President Biden, American families, automakers, and autoworkers agree: the future of transportation is electric,'' the White House said in a statement. “The electric car future is cleaner, more equitable, more affordable and an economic opportunity to support good-paying, union jobs.''

Accelerated adoption of electric vehicles for personal cars and commercial fleets would help achieve Biden's goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 while creating thousands of jobs, the White House said.

The effort also is intended to help the U.S. leapfrog China in the plug-in EV market. Currently, the U.S. market share of plug-in electric vehicle sales is one-third the size of the Chinese EV market.

Biden has set a goal that electric cars and trucks account for half of new vehicles sold by 2030.

Vice President Kamala Harris planned to announce the vehicle-charging strategy Monday at an event in suburban Maryland.

Harris was to appear at a maintenance facility in Brandywine, just outside Washington, where she will also receive a briefing about work to electrify the fleet in Maryland's Prince George’s County.

The new EV charging strategy establishes a joint electric vehicles office between the federal...