The Path to Drawdown: EV Infrastructure
Internal combustion engine vehicles still dominate transportation today, but electric vehicles (EVs) are poised to transform that landscape. The IEA estimates that there are now 11 million electric passenger cars and vans on the road thanks to supportive policies and falling costs.
The difference in impact on the climate is remarkable. Compared to internal combustion vehicles, CO2 emissions drop by 50% if an EV’s power comes off the conventional grid. If powered by solar energy, emissions are cut by 95%. Once households purchase EVs, the operating costs for those cars are often cheaper than gas-based cars, too.
But just like ubiquitous gas stations enable internal combustion engines, one critical factor for EVs to become the primary transportation method is a wider adoption of EV charging infrastructure. Most charging of EVs is done at home and work today. But for EVs to be more widely adopted, publicly accessible charging needs to be rolled out to encourage households without access to private chargers to opt for EVs.
For now, the ratio of chargers to EVs is far lower than what it needs to be in most countries, with the US near the bottom of the ranking among developed countries at 0.06 chargers per EV. Companies and governments around the world are currently implementing policies and incentive programs to expand EV infrastructure networks.
To achieve an all-electric transport sector in line with keeping global warming under 1.5ºC of warming, the IEA projects a dramatic increase in the number of EV chargers globally between now and 2030:
- <::marker> There were 10.3 million EV chargers in 2020
- <::marker> There need to be 215.2 million chargers by 2030
- <::marker> 35.5% CAGR between 2020 and 2030
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