Many wrote off the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, even before a tumultuous period in which federal funds were paused for the first half of the year. Nonetheless, it survived the legislative onslaught, won key legal battles, and emerged delayed but unscathed.

The last few months saw states getting approval for federal funding to deploy EV charging once again, including in locations that had previously declined to participate. But funding resumes at a time when privately-funded projects are driving a DCFC boom across the United States, often at the same locations that NEVI sought to fill when the first plans were drawn up four years ago.

All of which prompts the overarching question: do we still need NEVI?

The Coast-to-Coast EVs crew is joined by Jacob Espinoza, an experienced voice in EV infrastructure, especially in the desert southwest region covering Arizona,, Texas, and his home state of New Mexico.

The quartet unpack the four corners of the country and everything in between to share which states are doing what, and how it's integrating with massive private sector projects from IONNA, Walmart Energy, Mercedes-Benz, the major truck stop chains, and many more.

Related links from the discussion:

Jacob's Ko-Fi - https://ko-fi.com/artiepenguin1

Rivian Roamer Charger Report - https://rivianroamer.com/charging/report

Walter's Carolinas DCFC Construction Tour - https://youtu.be/dR4P7Pk72gY?si=Eax1SJFSaXdnGUwQ

Steve's multi-vendor Northeast to Midwest Tour - https://youtu.be/wsZomrANqCA

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Join Eric, Walter, and Steve, for a discussion on the EV charging experience: should it be as fast as gas, or are we missing an opportunity to reimagine the way we travel?

This topic is inspired by Eric's recent News Coulomb video on the overlap between public EV charging and "the holiday paradox". There's plenty to dig into, but I suggest taking in the video and its related articles before joining the conversation:

News Coulomb on EV Charging + The Holiday Paradox - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmVaKTYW7xU

Background on the Holiday Paradox Concept - https://www.lifeafterthedailygrind.com/p/the-holiday-paradox-how-to-slow-down-time

Rangeway Energy's response article + take on charging hospitality - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-worked-fine-still-feels-like-failure-rangewayenergy-isqbc

And to extend the idea, what if charging was designed to be a desirable experience, rather than an unavoidable distraction? As California-based charging startup Rangeway Energy wrote in response to Eric's video:

"In hospitality, when someone's going to be in your space for 35-55 minutes, that's your entire business model. Hotels, restaurants, cafes want people to stay. We design around making those minutes valuable and comfortable.

[The charging industry] thinks in kilowatts and uptime percentages. In throughput and app interfaces. None of them think in dwell time and customer experience." -- https://rangeway.energy/

Alternatively, is all of this thinking just post-hoc mental gymnastics to justify purchasing a vehicle that can't (yet) fuel up in five minutes? Is the rush to 500kW, then 600kW, then megawatt charging and beyond the only path to electric vehicles being accepted by mainstream drivers?

Check out the conversation, after a quick look at the US October EV sales slump in the wider context of surging global sales, in the latest episode of Coast-to-Coast EVs.

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