Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s Legacy: $7.5 Billion for Eight EV Charging Stations?

Outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has become a byword for waste and corruption over the department’s $7.5 billion expenditure to install a grand total of eight electric vehicle charging stations.  The Washington Post reported in March that in fact only seven had been built at that time. The number by May reportedly climbed to eight, a figure Buttigieg confirmed.  However, the eight operational charging stations in Hawaii, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and Pennsylvania are dwarfed by the actual outlay of funds in grant awards — with scant results to show for it. 

While a left-leaning fact check organization attempted to preempt President-elect Donald Trump’s and other critics’ claims about the charging stations as false, they could only claim that by August a total of 61 charging ports were operational at 15 stations, with more states in line for funds and more sites on the way.  One estimate for the hardware of a Tesla Supercharger projects $40,000-50,000 for the charging unit, with an additional $10,000 to $300,000 in grid, infrastructure, and software costs, projecting a relatively wide range of $60,000-$350,000. Once other infrastructure is in place, multiple additional units in one location could bring the per unit cost downward. 

Where is the money going? The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Program’s few dozen recipients include some political jurisdictions that have played outsized roles in elections: Maricopa County, Ariz., received $15 million; Atlanta, Ga., $12 million; Detroit, Mich., $15 million; and Dane County, Wisc., $13 million.  Some of the awards focused on making EV charging “equitable.” Durham, N.C., was awarded $5 million for its proposal; Atlanta, Ga., an additional $6 million; and the city of Los Angeles, Calif., $15 million.

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