Everything you need to know about charging your new electric car, from where to go to what you'll pay
- Critical to the future of electric cars is the cost, and convenience of plugging them in.
- These factors will influence whether drivers opt for the cars over gas-powered ones.
As the world's cars become electric, figuring out how to charge them will be key.
The electric car charging infrastructure market is expected to reach more than $207.5 billion by 2030, according to Guidehouse Insights, and that means new technologies and companies will continue to pop up.
They're racing to answer the many charging questions out there: Where can I charge? How much does it cost? How long does it take? What if something doesn't work?
At Insider, we've covered the electric charging industry from every angle. We've looked at the charging options available and in the works. We've looked at what tech exists and what areas could use more development. We've talked to investors about the players in the space to watch. And we've walked potential electric car buyers through some of the technologies that could make charging their car much, much easier.
Read more about the state of electric car charging below.
How EV charging fits in your lifestyle
As prospective EV-buyers consider going electric, the charging experience is weighed heavily.
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How much you should expect to pay to charge an electric car
The best ways to find charging stations for your electric vehicle
Plugging in, or not at all
From traditional charging infrastructure to wireless charging and everything in between, innovators are racing to provide drivers with the next best way to juice up.
It's not just drivers that face challenges with charging; companies and groups that are changing their fleets over to electric need to have infrastructure that can handle their needs, too. And while some of these innovations won't be available for years to come, it's important to know what's in the works.
Read more:
9 hot startups that could make or break the electric car industry by rethinking how drivers plug in
Charging players
A variety of companies are working on solving the charging problem. Bigger players like ChargePoint and EVgo have dominated public infrastructure so far, but new startups like SparkCharge and Blink are moving fast to challenge them.
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Federal support
The massive climate bill passed over the summer provides billions of dollars of funding for an expansion of the US's EV charging infrastructure. The Biden administration wants to see 500,000 public EV chargers on American roads by 2030, up from the roughly 124,000 already available.
Read more:
Biden administration announces rules to make electric car charging less crappy
Challenges
Range anxiety is largely a thing of the past. Most EVs can travel 250 to 350 miles on a single charge, and experts say that's more than enough for the average driver. What drivers are still worried about is access to charging. Charging deserts, confusing and expensive payment processes, and dysfunctional and broken charging ports are still a huge turnoff to EVs.
Those challenges provide opportunities, but there's lots of work to be done to address the charging barriers to EVs.
Read more:
Electric cars aren't a threat to America's 150,000 gas stations — they're a new business opportunity