Jonathan S.
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Jonathan
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2023
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- 1,705
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- Amherst MA & Twin Mtn NH
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- '22 4CT, '22 Audi A6 Allroad, '23 BMW i4 M50
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- #1
This is probably just more of the Flood The Zone strategy, and the only eventual substantive outcome will be to slow down NEVI … as if it weren’t slow enough already, with only 55 (or lower, by some counts) stations built so far after Congressional authorization for the program back in 2021.
But here’s the actual suspension:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/nevi/resources/state-plan-approval-suspension.pdf
In case you haven’t already amused/tortured yourself previously by looking at the NEVI website, to ensure maximum delays in the NEVI rollout, first U.S. DOT *and* DOE collaborate to publish the draft NEVI Formula Program Guidance for public comment, then eventually the final guidance is published.
Next, to ensure maximum delays *and* maximum work for private contractors, each state DOT prepares its annual plan. (I suspect that a one-sentence submission of “Just shadow all the existing Tesla Supercharger stations – they sure seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to charging!” would not suffice.) I've read some of the state plans (purely for entertainment purposes).
Then upon federal approval of its plan, each state eventually gets around to issuing the RFP, evaluates the submissions, and at some point a station is actually built, gets hooked up to the grid after permitting and utility delays, then of course immediately fails because, well, why bother spending lots of your own money on maintenance and repairs when you didn’t have to put up any of your own money in the first place to build the station?
(As for NEVI uptime requirements, how is that going to be monitored and enforced? Just look at some PlugShare checkins by frustrated would-be drivers that are responded to with a network rep claiming the station works just fine.)
Lots of speculation in the recent weeks about whether the new administration might try some sort of funding clawback. The apparent strategy now is to invalidate the current guidance along with all its predecessors, thereby claiming that this retroactively invalidates approval of all state plans. And hence no new funding can be approved. Until we go through another round of preparing a new draft NEVI Formula Program Guidance, submitting it for public comment, publishing the final version in the Federal Register, upon which states can contract yet again with civil engineering firms for new plans, to be submitted to NEVI for approval, etc.
Obviously this has a huge self-dealing element for Musk, since Tesla was winning only about a tenth of NEVI awards. This despite how Tesla V4 stations are almost always a dozen chargers (given the power sharing arrangements) instead of the NEVI four-charger min. And Tesla bids were far lower.
This article from a year ago has a misleading headline:
https://www.eenews.net/articles/tesla-masters-a-new-realm-federal-ev-infrastructure-dollars/
… since the bottomline is that almost 90% of NEVI’s awards were going to Tesla’s incompetent competition that wouldn’t be building hardly any stations w/o NEVI funding.
But it does have some interesting info on the bids:
I hesitated to post this intriguing tidbit given that I’m not sure it’s SFW (sounding instead more like one of Bart’s prank calls to Moe’s Tavern):
The Washington Post also had this cost information on one of New England’s most notorious charging deserts:
If only Mr. Murphy and his colleagues would give up entirely, then this would indeed promote consumer choice. VT did open one of the first NEVI stations, but in a poorly chosen location. (Fortunately, it’s of great utility to me, and its poor location for almost all VT traffic means I don’t have to worry about availability!)
Note that this site was already good to go with some preexisting infrastructure: large parking lot and a utility hook-up for two 50kW chargers … built under VT’s state programs, which were authorized in 2019 and 2020, yet only started getting built out over the last year or so, and mainly have “you’ve got to be kidding me” PlugShare scores.
The NEVI freeze doesn’t affect CFI, which has its only billions in funding, of which $2.46m was recently spent near me for only two chargers with four plugs:
https://driveelectric.gov/news/deerfield-ma-cfi-charging-station
To be continued for sure!
But here’s the actual suspension:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/nevi/resources/state-plan-approval-suspension.pdf
In case you haven’t already amused/tortured yourself previously by looking at the NEVI website, to ensure maximum delays in the NEVI rollout, first U.S. DOT *and* DOE collaborate to publish the draft NEVI Formula Program Guidance for public comment, then eventually the final guidance is published.
Next, to ensure maximum delays *and* maximum work for private contractors, each state DOT prepares its annual plan. (I suspect that a one-sentence submission of “Just shadow all the existing Tesla Supercharger stations – they sure seem to know what they’re doing when it comes to charging!” would not suffice.) I've read some of the state plans (purely for entertainment purposes).
Then upon federal approval of its plan, each state eventually gets around to issuing the RFP, evaluates the submissions, and at some point a station is actually built, gets hooked up to the grid after permitting and utility delays, then of course immediately fails because, well, why bother spending lots of your own money on maintenance and repairs when you didn’t have to put up any of your own money in the first place to build the station?
(As for NEVI uptime requirements, how is that going to be monitored and enforced? Just look at some PlugShare checkins by frustrated would-be drivers that are responded to with a network rep claiming the station works just fine.)
Lots of speculation in the recent weeks about whether the new administration might try some sort of funding clawback. The apparent strategy now is to invalidate the current guidance along with all its predecessors, thereby claiming that this retroactively invalidates approval of all state plans. And hence no new funding can be approved. Until we go through another round of preparing a new draft NEVI Formula Program Guidance, submitting it for public comment, publishing the final version in the Federal Register, upon which states can contract yet again with civil engineering firms for new plans, to be submitted to NEVI for approval, etc.
Obviously this has a huge self-dealing element for Musk, since Tesla was winning only about a tenth of NEVI awards. This despite how Tesla V4 stations are almost always a dozen chargers (given the power sharing arrangements) instead of the NEVI four-charger min. And Tesla bids were far lower.
This article from a year ago has a misleading headline:
https://www.eenews.net/articles/tesla-masters-a-new-realm-federal-ev-infrastructure-dollars/
… since the bottomline is that almost 90% of NEVI’s awards were going to Tesla’s incompetent competition that wouldn’t be building hardly any stations w/o NEVI funding.
But it does have some interesting info on the bids:
Tesla’s senior charging policy manager, Francesca Wahl, laid out the reasons for the numbers in a letter to Colorado’s Department of Transportation. “Based on Tesla’s experience building out travel corridor charging infrastructure, we have found that a minimum of 8 to 12 DC fast chargers at a site is necessary,” she wrote.
At the same time, Tesla is generally asking the federal government for less money per project. Tesla’s average funding per site — $414,554 — is dramatically lower than most other suitors for infrastructure law funds.
For example, another major winner, Pilot Travel Centers, won NEVI funds at an average of $631,069 per site. Another, BP Pulse, the charging arm of oil major BP, asked for an average of $525,854 per site. The most expensive chargers are being built in Hawaii by Sustainability Partners, an infrastructure financing firm, and Aloha Charge, a Hawaii-based charging company, at an average price tag of $1.7 million — more than four times Tesla’s average costs.
I hesitated to post this intriguing tidbit given that I’m not sure it’s SFW (sounding instead more like one of Bart’s prank calls to Moe’s Tavern):
Only one company, Kum and Go, a service station chain based in Des Moines, Iowa, pledged per-project costs lower than Tesla. Its three winning bids averaged $346,322.
The Washington Post also had this cost information on one of New England’s most notorious charging deserts:
Vermont Agency of Transportation officials said Friday that they will suspend their program, having built only one charging station with four chargers funded by NEVI for about $700,000. The state had already awarded 11 projects for an additional 60 charging ports, but those will all go on hold, said Patrick Murphy, the agency’s state policy director. More than $20 million in NEVI funding promised to the state is now at risk, he said.
“People really feel they need to have better charging infrastructure before they take the step in making an electric vehicle purchase or lease,” Murphy said. “This has nothing to do with promoting true consumer choice. This will actively limit choice.”
If only Mr. Murphy and his colleagues would give up entirely, then this would indeed promote consumer choice. VT did open one of the first NEVI stations, but in a poorly chosen location. (Fortunately, it’s of great utility to me, and its poor location for almost all VT traffic means I don’t have to worry about availability!)
Note that this site was already good to go with some preexisting infrastructure: large parking lot and a utility hook-up for two 50kW chargers … built under VT’s state programs, which were authorized in 2019 and 2020, yet only started getting built out over the last year or so, and mainly have “you’ve got to be kidding me” PlugShare scores.
The NEVI freeze doesn’t affect CFI, which has its only billions in funding, of which $2.46m was recently spent near me for only two chargers with four plugs:
https://driveelectric.gov/news/deerfield-ma-cfi-charging-station
To be continued for sure!
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