EV makers, along with Tesla have sent out a letter to Biden Administration for more investments. The request is for charging infrastructure for heavy-duty trucks, busses, trucks, and other medium and heavy-duty vehicles. The letter was addressed to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
It states that Biden’s administration should have 10% of the funds allocated to EV charging infrastructure for the medium and heavy-duty EVs specifically. The group wrote, “Most public EV charging infrastructure has been designed and built with passenger vehicles in mind. The size and location of spaces reflect an interest in servicing the driving public, not larger commercial vehicles. If America’s MHDV fleet is to go electric, the charging infrastructure built under the BIL will need to take its unique needs into account,”
It is already known that medium and heavy-duty vehicles, contribute to environmental pollution. The shift in these segments is much important in the transportation sector to achieve net-zero for the country. The transportation sector’s overall emissions would be reduced with increased investments. Vehicles like Tesla Semi are used by medium to large companies that transport large goods on a regular basis. The long vehicle usage, day and night usually adds up, unlike regular vehicles used within the city for some time.
Getting the support
Interestingly the letter comes forward from Tesla as the company was recently listed out from S&P. It was based on the idea that Tesla is still not environmentally sustainable. That the vehicles being charged are charging with the coal-generated electricity. Though both the activities are unrelated, it should be noted how the industry is yet to be advanced to move to completely sustainable. Yet, Tesla was removed with sole consideration of users’ usage.
Getting support from the Biden administration for the buildout of a charging network for heavy-duty EVs would likely help accelerate the adoption of zero-emission trucks, even if companies like Tesla are already hard at work in building their own charging infrastructure for their respective vehicles.
The Biden administration has already made pollution from large vehicles one of its key priorities, as hinted at by the Department of Transportation’s efforts to fund electric transit buses for state and local governments. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also proposed a new rule requiring new trucks to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90% by 2031. The letter also stated, “Most public EV charging infrastructure has been designed and built with passenger vehicles in mind. The size and location of spaces reflect an interest in servicing the. driving public, not larger commercial vehicles.”
