LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – There is a desperate need for more charges in Nevada according to some EV drivers. FOX5 spoke with drivers who are often forced to wait in lines to charge up.
“I am swapping this in tomorrow and getting a gas vehicle,” Steven Blocker told FOX5. Blocker, an Uber driver using an electric vehicle, just moved to Henderson from San Diego a month and a half ago.
“It is too stressful, and I am not working right now because I am waiting to charge the vehicle,” Blocker explained while sitting in a parking lot waiting for his turn to charge.
FOX5 was there when a driver jumped the line and Henderson police were called.
“I have actually pulled into a charging station not realizing that people were waiting,” Blocker admitted. Blocker says charging up back in San Diego was much easier. Since his apartment complex in Henderson doesn’t have anywhere to charge, Blocker now must rely on charging stations.
“I can’t do EV here anymore…I live right up the street. This is the closest. It is always full,” Blocker shared. “Right now look there’s two that are broke over there…half the time one is available and there are 6 cars waiting to use it,” stated EV driver Kenneth Thomas. Thomas says he is in the same boat as Blocker.
“You got to spend two hours sitting in the hot sun waiting to use it. I just got this thing 2 weeks ago and its going back,” Thomas said while sitting in his car waiting for his turn at a charger.
“We should not be losing a single one of those drivers,” contended Ben Leffel, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at UNLV. Leffel reports Nevada is behind when it comes to EV chargers measured by EV ports per road mile.
According to the US Department of Energy, California has more than 53,000 ports. Nevada has approximately 2,230.
“Nevada has roughly 20 percent fewer than the national average…that presents a serious problem, and you don’t have that problem for the traditional fossil fuel infrastructure,” Leffel asserted.
Leffel says about eight percent of new car sales are EV’s now but that number is projected to skyrocket, and EV charging stations will become a critical infrastructure need. As more EV cars hit the road, the problem will get worse unless more charging stations are added.
“That will be unworkable honestly,” project EV driver Paul Hopkins.
In 2021, the federal government approved $5 billion in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding. Nevada was allocated $38 million for grants for electric vehicle charging stations. For more information on that program visit: Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program
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