Milwaukee will receive nearly $15 million from the federal government to install 53 electric vehicle charging stations around the city. Another $13 million is going to Dane County for more EV chargers there. The grants come during an uncertain political and industrial climate for electric vehicles.
Three months ago, the state of Wisconsin announced the planned locations of 53 new so-called fast chargers, paid for by the feds in the first round of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. Only a handful of the chargers were scheduled to be in the Milwaukee area — all in the suburbs— as the Wisconsin DOT had to focus on transportation corridors.
Now, Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt tells WUWM that a city of Milwaukee grant proposal has been accepted, and using discretionary funds in round two of the program, his agency will send Milwaukee about $15 million to pay for chargers at 53 local sites.
“What we worked with the city on — they prioritized sites that are lacking existing EV infrastructure. Places for low-to-moderate income communities and neighborhoods with a high ratio of multi-family housing units. The vast majority of people who own EVs charge them in their own driveway or their own garage. And what Milwaukee is doing is looking at places where people don’t have access to that feature but still want to charge their vehicles," Bhatt says.
The Milwaukee Environmental Collaboration Office (ECO) says the city charging network "should give residents and visitors additional confidence to purchase an electric vehicle the next time they are shopping for a car." The city has a map of preliminary priority locations for the new EV chargers and says after discussions with the U.S. Transportation Department, it hopes to have "further public engagement" about the sites.
Bhatt says the $13 million for 92 Level 2 DC Fast Charging stations in Dane County has a different goal.
“This is more of a mix of urban and suburban areas, and it even has some rural sites, as well. Dane County has already been a leader in this space, and this is about filling in some of the gaps that they have," Bhatt says.
But the increase in EV chargers comes amid some uncertainty in car makers' commitment to electric vehicles. Ford said last week that it’s scrapping its plan to make nothing but electric SUVs, saying SUV drivers want gas-electric hybrids.
That move could actually help Ford make more smaller EVs.
But any pullback from the industry comes as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to criticize the Biden Administration’s approach to the changing auto market. At last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the former President promised what he’d do back in the White House.
"I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one — thereby saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now, and saving U.S. customers thousands and thousands of dollars per car,” says Trump.
There isn’t a federal EV mandate, but the Biden Administration does want automakers to reduce air pollution emissions by producing more EVs and hybrids. Also, Trump recently complimented auto-maker and Trump donor Elon Musk for his Tesla electric vehicles.
On Monday, Canada joined the U.S. in launching a 100 % tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles, claiming China's subsidies give its industry an unfair advantage, the Associated Press reports.
Bhatt says claims that the government wants to get rid of gas-powered vehicles are flat-out wrong.
“I think that is one of the misconceptions that are being propagated out there. This is not about taking away internal combustion engine vehicles. If anything, internal combustion engines have become much more efficient over the years, and they’re a great choice for people, he says.
But he says other people say, let’s get going on more EV chargers.
One of the sites the state promises to put an EV charger is outside a Holiday Inn, next to I-41 in Wauwatosa.
Tesla driver John Olson meets us there, and says after following the issue for 30 years, he knows running on gasoline is not the future.
“We knew, and looking at oil—it is a fixed resource—and we are burning through it very quickly—so it’s not a question of if we have to electrify — it’s when," Olson says.
Olson’s friend, and fellow EV owner, Tom Brunka, also predicts gas prices will rise faster than electricity prices. But Brunka wants to make sure the government-funded charging stations have the right capacity for what’s needed at a location.
“Level 1 is what we have in our wall receptacles at home and it works. But for a Tesla Model 3, it’s going to take three or four days," he says.
Brunka and Olson say getting a lot of higher capacity Level 2 and Level 3 chargers in the right places will be key to making a widespread switch to EV.
That may be a good test for those officials in charge of the 145 new chargers coming to Milwaukee and Dane County.
