Diversity and Equity Initiatives Leading New Electric Vehicle Push

High-cost, all-electric vehicles are affordable to few. As electric vehicle (EV) sales gain steam, topping one million in 2023 by J.D. Power projections, the gap between those that can afford a new model and have charging capability, and those that are lower income and don't have convenient charging, grows wider.

Some new, lower-cost models like the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Kia Niro EV and Hyundai Kona EV are on the horizon, but lower price points do not equate to affordability for many Americans.

Research published by Harvard and San Jose State University over the last two years shows that disparities in EV adoption are based upon several factors, including where public and private EV chargers are located. The studies note that the typical EV buyer is affluent, White, has a high level of education, and lives in a single-family home that they own.

Experts note that the next hurdle to clear in EV adoption is breaking out of these demographics to reach new vehicles buyers in all classes. General Motors is using its new tagline "EVs for everyone" to that effect, highlighting its sub-$40,000 electric SUVs in the Blazer and Equinox in advertising campaigns.

"Even though a select few automakers are committed to selling lower-priced EVs, there aren't that many of them on sale yet. That's just one part of the issue," Robby DeGraff, product and consumer insights analyst at AutoPacific told Newsweek.

"We also know that the best way to own an EV is to have access to charging it at home, especially as we sift through the ongoing mess of unreliable public charging infrastructure. But not every American has the means to become a homeowner, or lives in an apartment complex with a place to easily plug in."

State and federal tax credits and rebates have been messaged by many as helping to bridge the adoption gap for those who cannot traditionally afford the steep price of an EV. However, these are credits and not cash on the hood. Most parties that take advantage of the credits are high income earners.

A 2022 study by Consumer Reports found that 79 percent of EV owners in California have an annual household income greater than $100,000 and almost 40 percent have an income of more than $200,000.

There is no easy solution to at-home charging for many Americans. A single-family home with a garage is the most convenient place to charge. Even after those two hurdles, it can cost thousands to install a home charging unit, which may require a home's electrical system to be upgraded as well.

Apartment buildings, condominiums and mobile home parks present at-home charging conundrums, especially when located in heavily populated areas, like New York City, Los Angeles and Miami.

The median household income of U.S. homeowners is $86,000, according to a study by RubyHome, and the median income of renters is $42,500. U.S. homeowners also have a net worth 40 times higher than renters making them much more able to afford an expensive EV and the necessary installation that go with it.

Those who don't own a home are subject to the whims of the building owner. The price for a single Level 2 (240-volt) charger in an apartment complex can range from $2,500 to $15,000 according to Future Energy, a data and infrastructure company that sells turnkey chargers, depending on the level of infrastructure that needs to be provided.

Many organizations are working on this inequitable distribution, from state energy providers to charger companies to automakers, and they're on a deadline to do it.

General Motors' Dealer Community Charging Program launched in December with the goal of installing up to 40,000 EV chargers in underserved and rural communities. So far, more than 1,000 dealers, parks, libraries and sports complexes have taken the company up on their offer to install up to 10 Level 2 stations. The automaker notes that 90 percent of the U.S. population lives within a 10-mile radius of a GM dealership.

"As a group, we have heavily invested in our EV future, investing millions of dollars to support increased consumer demand for EVs and the needed charging infrastructure. We fully support General Motor's planned EV network expansion and are ready to welcome guests into our facilities," Ryan LaFontaine, CEO of Michigan's LaFontaine Automotive Group told Newsweek.

Plug In America, a non-profit advocacy group, has launched a new program, EV Charging for All, that has goals similar goals to GM's. The program's guiding principles are to maximize equitable, affordable access to "EV Ready" charging at home and at work, and minimize cost and complexity for residents, builders and property managers.

Efforts are focused on multi-family housing and workplaces. These are places with a long "dwell time" allowing fuller charges with less powerful equipment. Residents of multi-family housing are more likely to be lower income, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color) and/or members of less environmentally safe communities. These are some of the most challenging places to install chargers.

EV adoption suffers from the chicken-and-egg paradox: people won't buy EVs because there are no chargers, but companies don't want to install chargers in neighborhoods with no EVs.

Volta, a member of the Shell Group, is trying to solve that by installing chargers in underserved communities with large advertisement screens. It does this to offset the cost, but also to have an easy-to-see presence in these neighborhoods, so maybe the next car a household buys can be an EV.

"We have this dual media and charging model. Our stations have a charger and two screens on it. We run and sell media through those screens, which are targeted at drivers, sure, but also just people who are visiting the station," Drew Bennett, executive vice president of Network Operations at Volta, told Newsweek.

"We have a lot of partnerships with cities who use those screens to talk about the benefits of EV ownership with the greater public as they walk by. So, these are powerful messaging platforms, they also generate revenue for us. Our model is different than a lot of the charging options out there," he said.

Volta uses PredictEV software to identify locations that would benefit the most from better EV infrastructure. Volta says the software analyzes disparate data sources, including local mobility, demographic, commercial and site-specific data, to find the right locations to install a charger.

Volta works closely with mall operators and grocery stores to put these charging stations into places where people like to go every week, high density community centers and places with dwell time where people can see the stations, even if they don't own an EV. At many locations, ads offset the cost of charging and installation, making the Level 2 units free or lower cost to use in many locations.

Volta has partnered with Michigan's DTE Energy to add chargers to locations traditionally overlooked during infrastructure buildout, including DC fast chargers, which deliver from 400 to 900 volts.

"DTE has been around for over 100 years, so whenever we're looking to put chargers in place, especially for the public, we have to make sure that there's enough capacity available to support the charger. And then we have to look at the infrastructure. Certainly, the DC fast chargers, the amount of power that they're pulling is, is pretty extreme," Tony Tomczak, DTE vice president of electric sales and marketing told Newsweek.

"We may need to do some things to make it more robust like putting transformers in place to be able to handle the load. Or maybe we replace certain cables and things like that. So it's not an easy thing, whether it's in a disadvantaged area or any other part of our of our system, you usually need to make improvements in order to support it."

Rural areas also provide different problems, but ones just as challenging. DTE looks at its system to find out where the charging deserts are. Many are in the inner city, but rural areas are also underserved, and those take imaginative solutions.

EVCS is an EV charger company born in 2018 out of an EV ride share company called Green Commuter. Like Volta, it also works with local and state utilities to install chargers in apartments and other underserved locations. EVCS now owns and operates about 700 stations on the West Coast.

"We don't ask a dime from the landlord ever. We buy the charger, and we pay for the installation. We repair the units; we pay for the network and communication on the charger. Our arrangement with the landowner is that they allow us to install the charger on their property and then we do a revenue share with them," Gustavo Occhiuzzo, CEO of EVCS told Newsweek.

EVCS works with government agencies for grants in the three states it operates in. That doesn't include money from the Inflation Reduction Act or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has yet to be distributed. EVCS has a relationship with the California Air Resources Board (a group that protects the state's air) and the California Energy Commission, a government energy policy and planning agency. As well as with local housing authorities like the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles and the King County Housing Authority.

"And a lot of the first installations, especially the fast-charging stations, were in wealthy neighborhoods, for the only reason that that's where the Tesla's were, right? That's where the electric vehicles were. So these legacy networks didn't really install charger in those other neighborhoods, for that reason," said Occhiuzzo.

With the EV market now gaining traction, and used EVs coming onto the market, the equitable distribution of EV chargers is even more important.

The logistics of installing chargers depends on exactly where they're going. EVCS works with the cities on trenching, backfilling, and then with utility companies for the electrical work. It spends about four to six weeks planning at a site and it takes about a year to complete a job. If the power grid needs reinforcement, it can take even longer.

A 2021 study by Consumer Reports found that the more electric vehicles people see in their neighborhood, the more likely they are to purchase one. It also found that 20 percent of respondents who said they would "definitely" buy or lease an EV as their next vehicle, has already driven one.

The rush for EVs is being pushed by younger generations who are maturing as new car buyers. According to AAA more than half of Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012) is looking into an EV for their next auto purchase, along with 30 percent of Millenials (born 1981 to 1996) and a quarter of Gen X buyers.

Companies like Volta, EVCS, DTE and Plug-in America are making EVs more visible by making charging more accessible.