Daily on Energy: Number of public EV chargers doubles, CBP detains Indian solar imports, and Panama Canal starts to clear up

PROGRESS ON PUBLIC ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGERS: The number of publicly available electric vehicle chargers has doubled under the Biden administration, the Department of Energy announced on Tuesday. 

In a funding announcement allocating $521 million in grants to help boost the buildout of EV chargers and alternative fueling infrastructure, the agency announced there are currently over 192,000 publicly available charging ports across the country, with approximately 1,000 new public chargers being added each week. It’s expected that the allocated funds will build 9,200 more chargers across the country. 

Why this matters: Upon enacting the bipartisan infrastructure package, the Biden administration eyed a goal of building 500,000 chargers in the U.S. by 2030. But a March report from the Washington Post outlined that after more than two years since Congress allocated $7.5 billion to build the stations, only seven new chargers attributable to the law were operational across four states – illustrating the difficulty of bringing policy to life.

In its latest announcement, DOE stressed the “catalyzing” effect the funds had on private investment for EV charging infrastructure.