No, $5 billion has not been spent on a few EV fast chargers... | NEVI Update 2.5 

Wish I'd had this comment before, as it could have served as script for the video. Appreciate the balanced digest. This one is part of a series that is developing, so the deeper dive on perceived delays is a valuable suggestion. Thanks for taking the time to offer perspective.

I can see it now... "Coastal Elitist Wants Your Tax Dollars to Travel for Free in His All-Electric Toy! More at 11..." Yep, I think I'll stick to RU-vid!

I think it was you whose comment prompted me to dig into the discarded update 2 footage to find it, so thank *you*! Either way, it's my pleasure :-)

It's odd, there's slow and then there's at a standstill. So Tennessee actually announced in reasonable time, this past February. But they're contracting and approval process is suspiciously long, from April through November this year. Construction is supposed to begin in December, which could then easily get caught up in adverse weather. That said, at least we know where things will be and who has won what. Compared to a Wyoming or Florida, who haven't moved much at all, TN is light years ahead.

Correcting myself here: Pilot-Flying J in Gordonsville, TN has units in the ground and looks like it could easily come online this summer. Nothing in progress at the Hurricane Mills site but ground is broken at Monteagle, so that could quickly become your second NEVI activation.

@@plugandplayEV yup, and for a states economy based a lot on tourism they should be focusing on getting the charging infrastructure built out to attract more visitors. December here can be some what mild and also rainy. Usually gets colder in January here.

That's certainly the next debate: is all of this worth it? The argument for is that the individual sites catalyze wider action, so competitors see their rivals installing charging and don't want to miss out. After that, the extra plugs that you rightly want come from 100% private funding (or maybe lingering Dieselgate/pandemic funds) and gives the customer more choice. On the negative side, it's a gold rush for funding that is just being distributed to add the bare minimum. 97% uptime and a couple of dispensers aren't exactly ambitious, with a single outage torpedoing the effectiveness of the installs for a 100-mile stretch on some vulnerable routes. I'm generally in the pro camp when it comes to doing something rather than nothing, but I'm very conscious of the limitations you flag here.

Great suggestion, thanks. I'll make a note to cover lesser-known and new EVI companies in one of the next updates.

Nope, Idaho is definitely a slow mover. Their 2023 action amounted to starting the search for a company to develop two pilot sites, neither of which have been identified yet. If the state had wanted to move quickly, it could have easily released the full RFP and zeroed in on Pilot-Flying J bids, as the chain covers at least 75% of the corridors that need to be addressed. Construction isn't even scheduled to begin until 2025 and it's easy to see that slipping.

Too busy trying to waste money on taking over Oregon.

Talking to someone out in Boise, apparently Idaho Power is being particularly difficult with demand charges. That's behind a closure of a CPE250 out in Sun Valley.

From certain outlets that's true and inevitable, but there are also some big names reaching for the sensational aspect of the story that make me wonder. Perhaps they're op-eds and have been inspired by outside donors, but ubiquity of these headlines over the past six months is definitely suspicious.

I'm hopeful it's short term pain for long term gain... assuming NEVI itself isn't derailed, of course 🤞

Yes, but... Home charging, when it's available, answers the question for people who drive fewer than 200 miles daily IMO. On the other hand, if I were a young guy or girl who had a fondness for speed- I'm 72 and still do - a Highland Model 3 Performance would be a complete no-brainer.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me! 💪⚡

I find it's quite interesting that Tesla has managed to install 8 stalls for $473k in comparison to the 4 stalls at about $650k by other companies. Wonder why some localities keep picking the more expensive and less reliable options?

@hvu6037 Tesla manages the power differently and caps out at 250kW, so there are limitations with them as well. The site awards themselves are scored across a wide range of items, including location, power, amenities, site accommodations, private matching funds, etc.) My bet is that the ~$600K award winners are building sites closer to just below $1 million a pop (add 20% match minimum and a few on-site extras, like Flying J canopies, funded privately). Tesla can certainly build them cheap and cheerful with the vertical integration, but they might not always be interested in some states, if they have a significant Supercharger presence at the state-desired locations already.

Make it so!

There are a few pieces to the answers here, some of which are intertwined. In terms of cost per stall, the state plans rarely get that granular. At best, we get an exact amount of funding for a specific site. With Tesla, the company's vertical integration and decade of experience mean they have fast charger installations down to a fine art. They rarely deploy less than eight stalls nowadays, often twelve, but the NEVI funds are typically going to a portion of the install. In any case, Tesla has won the second-most NEVI awards and routinely comes in less costly than competitors. However, individual states have different criteria (power, location, amenities, matching funds, and more) that can rank a non-Tesla site more highly than a Supercharger, so a more expensive option often ends up winning. Regardless of vendor, the stations cost more than the NEVI award total. There is a minimum 20% matching fund requirement that comes from the private entity or some other grant program, where the site host is a public entity. In terms of transparency, the information is mostly there for reporters willing to find a contact or look through the states' reports, which are updated every year. In the case of Vermont and New York, I agree that the amounts need to be clearer. Their sites have, so far, been allocated outside of a formal RFP process. On the one hand, that has helped them move more quickly than other states, but it also makes the spending opaque. The exact numbers will be available eventually, however, so it's more a case of reporting lag than anything nefarious. EDIT to add: any site funded by NEVI has minimum four stalls capable of 150kW continuous power delivery to each stall. Where there are only two dispensers, it's because they have two connectors on one unit, for a total of four handles/stalls.

Since this is a NEVI funded site it would have to be a magic dock and support all vehicles.

Right, as Rudy mentioned the site is required to have a CCS1 option in order to receive federal funds. Outside of NEVI, there are still around 70 other Supercharger locations that have a similar "Magic Dock" system to charge any CCS1 EV, where the adapter is integrated into the charge post and activated via the Tesla app.

@@plugandplayEV At a snails pace compared to 350s.

@@JohnCap523 All too true.

@@plugandplayEV Cracks me up all the fanfare for charging eGMP, Rivian, and Lightning EVs at 100kw.

Tesla hasn't deployed any true V4 Superchargers to the best of my knowledge, here or abroad. The best hope is that now Cybertruck is ramping, they will have more incentive to push 1000V Superchargers and serve their own models. But no timeline that I've seen for that. In terms of full V3/V4 Supercharger access, Hyundai-Kia was late to the game last year and probably won't see adapters until the end of 2024, at best. However, with the Supercharger team restructured and GM access slipping beyond its original deadline of spring '24, 2025 for H-K models is probably more likely.

Hey Robert, unfortunately not. Those are under the MassEVIP program that Baker signed off just before leaving office. Not sure why so many are delayed but a bunch got cancelled and others have extended the deadline to complete into the second half of the year. I'm planning a video on it in July.

Not sure which type of ads this refers to but Tesla has been paying for digital ads for much of the past year.

In at least two senses of the word.

@@plugandplayEV I can’t tell you how many “writers” I’ve sent feedback on their lazy tomes about the collapse of the EV market. So clueless.

I'd probably not even engage if it were limited to that, but the narrative has spread to wider mainstream coverage and Democratic politicians (who don't seem to understand the sticking points are with their states). Needs to be corrected, at least in terms of allocated vs. spent.

@@plugandplayEV good points

Nope. Just a vehicle with a different drivetrain, that's all.