Mathilde Carlier
Research Expert covering transportation and logistics
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the United States - statistics & facts
In December 2024, Donald Trump’s transition team recommended a rollback of some of Biden’s policies supporting electric vehicles, including the Biden Administration’s 7.5 billion U.S. dollars plan to grow the country’s charging network. While some of the transition team’s recommendations include measures which could expedite federally funded EV infrastructure projects, the current recommendations are a sharp departure from the status quo.
The electric vehicle (EV) market broke records in the United States in 2023: Plug-in electric vehicle sales increased by over 56 percent in the country. The growing success of the electric vehicle market in the North American country has led to a rising need for public and private charging points.
The volume of publicly available fast chargers in the country has been steadily increasing since 2019. However, despite this increase in public charging stations, the prevalence of public infrastructure does not match EV owners’ charging demands: As of an October 2023 survey, EV owners expect to charge their vehicles most often at home, denoting a greater need for private charging ports rather than for public stations. Despite this, private charging recorded slower growth in the country.
However, while Tesla secured its place among the country’s fast charging network, there were over eight times more ChargePoint public charging stations than Tesla Destinations as of December 2024. Most of ChargePoint’s 2023/2024 revenue came from its network charging systems. However, ChargePoint was yet to make a profit, its net loss growing in that fiscal year. This was a hurdle other charging networks also faced: Blink Charging, the second public charging network, recorded a net loss of around 203.7 million U.S. dollars in the 2023 fiscal year. While boosted by American companies, the U.S. charging infrastructure still has a long road ahead for profitability.
The U.S. charging infrastructure has been expanding in the past years, relying on domestic companies which make up the network. However, disparities between states and between consumer expectations and the public infrastructure have challenged network expansion. Policy changes could further impact how the market evolves.
A market not matching consumer demand
As of the fourth quarter of 2023, California ranked 49th among all other U.S. states based on its volume of available charging ports per 100 electric vehicles. The Golden State was the largest private and public infrastructure market, over four times more than the volume of charging stations available in New York, which came second in the ranking. This is unsurprising, as half of the leading 10 U.S. cities with the most electric charging stations were in California. This stark disparity between California and other U.S. states highlights the issues of charging infrastructure expansion faced at the state-level, though it is not the only challenge to the U.S. charging network expansion.The volume of publicly available fast chargers in the country has been steadily increasing since 2019. However, despite this increase in public charging stations, the prevalence of public infrastructure does not match EV owners’ charging demands: As of an October 2023 survey, EV owners expect to charge their vehicles most often at home, denoting a greater need for private charging ports rather than for public stations. Despite this, private charging recorded slower growth in the country.
U.S. companies fuel the charging infrastructure
Tesla, the battery-electric vehicle market leader in the U.S. in 2023, provided a wide range of Superchargers and Destination chargers in the country. As of December 2024, Tesla Destination was fourth among the leading public charging networks, behind non-networked stations, Blink Network, and ChargePoint. To remain competitive in the sector, Tesla opened its Supercharger network to other automakers in 2023. It is expected that drivers of Ford, Rivian, and General Motors electric vehicles should have access to these Superchargers soon, among other brands.However, while Tesla secured its place among the country’s fast charging network, there were over eight times more ChargePoint public charging stations than Tesla Destinations as of December 2024. Most of ChargePoint’s 2023/2024 revenue came from its network charging systems. However, ChargePoint was yet to make a profit, its net loss growing in that fiscal year. This was a hurdle other charging networks also faced: Blink Charging, the second public charging network, recorded a net loss of around 203.7 million U.S. dollars in the 2023 fiscal year. While boosted by American companies, the U.S. charging infrastructure still has a long road ahead for profitability.
The U.S. charging infrastructure has been expanding in the past years, relying on domestic companies which make up the network. However, disparities between states and between consumer expectations and the public infrastructure have challenged network expansion. Policy changes could further impact how the market evolves.
