Far from being over, the EV revolution is in full swing

Attention: peripherally-metroDetroit™-specific content You'll cope. You're strong.

From the East Bay Ray Times, authors David Hochschild and Liane Randolph postulate an 180° turn from the media's doom-and-gloom regarding Detroit's main product…

Californians purchased 108,372 new zero-emission vehicles in the first three months of 2024 — nearly 7,000 more than the same time last year and the highest-ever first-quarter sales. […] Today, one in four new cars sold in the Golden State is electric, up from just 8% in 2020.

Challenges persist, and chief among them is the need for more widely available charging options. Many more charging stations need to be built as fast as possible to keep up with EV adoption. To address this, California is investing $4 billion over six years to rapidly build out the EV refueling network, on top of billions in investment by utilities. Equally essential is improved reliability of the EV charging network. Too many drivers today encounter faulty charging stations, which is why the California Energy Commission is developing the strongest charging reliability standards in the country and will require companies to be transparent with the public about their performance.

Meanwhile in the Great State of Michigan, from reporter Kelly House at BridgeMichigan…

[The State of Michigan] has $110 million in federal dollars for the cause, several times more than Michigan’s dedicated spending on EV chargers to date. […] But a Bridge Michigan analysis of early grants shows that with a price-per-plug that rivals the mortgage debt on an average Michigan home, the money won’t go far.

So far, federal data shows Michigan has just 756 fast-charging plugs and 2,568 slower ones scattered across the state. […] “We have a long way to go,” said Amy Rogghe, executive director of the nonprofit Michigan Electric Vehicle Alliance. A swift EV transition is possible, she said, but “we just need more funding.”