On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said that the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to put in place chargers for electric vehicles (EVs).
Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt told Merkley during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting that “dozens,” but not more than 100, of charging stations for electric vehicles that were paid for by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have been set up.
Merkley replied, “That’s just pathetic.” He pointed out that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of 2021 was meant to help President Biden reach his goal of having 500,000 chargers by the end of the decade.
He also said that in his home state of Oregon, not a single charger paid for by the federal government was set up.
“I feel the same way you do about how quickly changes are being made,” Bhatt responded. He said that working with the states to get the charges put in place was not easy. Another thing he said was that this year, thousands of charges should be online.
People don’t want to wait in long lines to charge their electric cars, and they might be afraid of running out of power on a long drive if there aren’t enough charging stations.
As a key way to fight climate change, the Biden government and many Democrats have pushed for more people to buy electric cars.