Sep 27, 2022 2 min read

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The state Department of Transportation has received the first $25.4 million of the $170 million it will receive from the new federal infrastructure law through 2026 to develop an electric vehicle charging network.

But that must be just the beginning, given the certainty that the transition to electric vehicles in unstoppable. The switch is not just a goal of governments around the world to slow dangerous global warming. Auto manufacturers worldwide have committed more than $515 billion to EV development over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by Reuters.

California, by far the nation’s largest vehicle market and one of the largest in the world, has announced that it will only allow EVs to be sold there beginning in 2035. In turn, companies will accelerate EV development to meet that market.

Only about 31,000 of Pennsylvania’s 4 million-plus registered vehicles are fully electric, but that is three times the number of registered EVs in 2019.

The Wolf administration plans a “full buildout” of EV charging stations with the federal money, which means at least one charging station for every 50 miles of interstate highway, within one mile of the highway.

The electric vehicle company Tesla already has developed 50 charging stations, many at Pennsylvania Turnpike service plazas.

The charging-station plan is crucial but just the beginning. The state government should upgrade its EV game in other ways.

Wolf has issued an executive order requiring that at least 25% of all new vehicles for the state government fleet be fully electric or plug-in hybrids. The Legislature should extend that requirement to municipal governments and school districts, and create a program for them to develop their own charging stations.

The state government also should provide incentives for battery development and production, and research money to recover the minerals that are essential to batteries from the state’s too-abundant coal waste.

EVs are not a question of “if,” or even “when,” but of “how fast?” The state government must ensure that Pennsylvania is ready.