Despite years of innovation and research to get consumers to buy electric vehiclesAccording to the US government, automakers are still struggling with a lack of charging infrastructure in the United States. But California – a leader in electric vehicles – says this isn’t too much of a problem for its residents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that this is now the case one electric vehicle charging station for every five gas stations in the state that is Home to more than 39 million people. There are now 105,000 public or shared private electric charging stations and 500,000 home chargers in California. California has also approved a $1.9 billion investment plan to support the deployment of 40,000 additional electric vehicle chargers across the state. California had already poured $1.8 billion into improving its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure.
“California dominates in this area,” Newsom said Friday in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “We want to maintain that leadership – that dominance – as we transition from dirty emissions to a future of low-carbon, green growth.”
A Lack of easy access to store is one of the most commonly cited barriers to growing EV sales. Each of CEO of Ford Motor Co According to the US Secretary of Energy, the search for an electric charger has encountered problems. And even if you do find a charger while driving, JD Power found that one in five attempts to use a public EV charger fail.
A lack of access could be a major obstacle to California’s plan to end sales of new gasoline-only cars by 2035. The process will begin in 2026, with a new mandate requiring 35% of all new cars sold to be electric or plug-in hybrid cars.
According to the governor’s office, more than 1.84 million ZEVs have been sold in California so far. More than a third of all ZEVs sold in the United States are sold in California. If California cleaved from the USA and would become its own country, it would be the fourth largest seller of electric vehicles in the world, behind Germany, the USA and China.
As part of the push by car manufacturers to Expand access to electric vehicle charging for your customers, every major western automaker has reached agreements to introduce Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). The exact amounts vary, but customers of these companies will receive access to more than 15,000 Tesla Superchargers across North America as part of their respective offers.
“This move will improve the public charging experience by offering our customers even more choice and is an integral part of our growth as an electric vehicle brand.” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement Earlier this year after its customers gained access to Tesla’s chargers. Ford was the first major automaker to sign a deal with Tesla.
Seven automakers – including Stellantis, GM and Mercedes-Benz – have also formed a joint venture to bring it to market IONNA charging networkThe goal is to have at least 30,000 charging stations across North America by 2030. These stations will be compatible with Tesla’s NACS and the Combined Charging System (CCS).
This article originally appeared on quartz.