US Democrats want more EV charging point funding to lower emissions in $1 trillion spending bill

A group of 28 US House Democrats says the $1 trillion (£725bn) infrastructure bill poised for vote in the Senate falls short in electric vehicle (EV) funding.

The current one trillion dollar bipartisan bill includes $7.5bn in electric vehicle infrastructure funding. The 28 Representatives have asked congressional leaders to add $85 billion towards an EV charging network.

In a letter addressed to Nancy Pelosi, Congresswomen Debbie Dingell and Yvette Clarke argued that higher funding would “help add utility electrical capacity to enable robust charging, increasing the supply of renewable energy, and build grid resilience in the face of climate change.”

Dingell insists higher funding is critical to reach President Joe Biden’s goal of electric vehicles making up half of new vehicle sales by 2030.

The 50 per cent target won the support of U.S. and foreign automakers, which said that achieving it would require billions of dollars in government funding.

Representatives Brenda Lawrence and Rashida Tlaib also signed the letter, as did House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio.

In March, Biden called for $174bn in total spending on electric vehicles, including $100bn in consumer incentives and $15bn to build 500,000 EV charging stations.

In a $3.5 trillion proposal released yesterday, Senate Democrats laid out plans to fully electrify the US federal vehicle fleet and provide transportation tax incentives.