There's these rebates that will be available in the fall, but they're not available yet. SUMMERS: But all those things you just listed, Camila, that's - sounds like it's going to take some time, right?ĭOMONOSKE: Yeah, that's a theme of the trip, you know? We visited sites that had plans for improving transmission lines and a lithium mine that's going to be a mine again, but right now, it sort of looks like a pond. It's not everyone, but there's money rolling out. States - some of them, especially California, New York, Colorado - a report just came out from a energy research group - some of them are trying. Echoing John Ryan here, what is being done to get more chargers on the road?ĭOMONOSKE: Well, federally, there's $7.5 billion in funding going out. RYAN: But if they can get more of them, that'd be great.ĭOMONOSKE: I mean, it's just a sign of how far the country still has to go in terms of rolling out this infrastructure. And Ryan knew exactly what he wanted from her - more chargers. I mean, they'll get it together at some point, I guess.ĭOMONOSKE: And the they who will get it together - I mean, that obviously includes people like the secretary of energy, who was right there. And that driver, John Ryan, he said, yeah, this is just totally normal. But it is a real frustration, and it just speaks to the challenges the existing infrastructure poses to people with electric vehicles.Īnd then another car pulled up. Turns out that's not a crime, the cops said who showed up. But there were more people who wanted to charge than there were chargers.Īnd one person who was waiting actually called the cops about a non-electric vehicle that was trying to hold a spot for the secretary of energy. Yesterday, we stopped at a fast charger where one of the chargers was broken, right? Another one was actually being used by an electric school bus that was on a road show, which was pretty cool. SUMMERS: You are leading me to believe that there are some parts of this that were not quite as smooth.ĭOMONOSKE: The best laid plans - I mean, anyone who has driven electric vehicles on road trips, especially if you're not in a Tesla, is familiar with this experience. Well, some parts went exactly according to plan - charging at the hotels and parking lots. How is that going so far?ĭOMONOSKE: Yeah. SUMMERS: So you pointed out that this is a road trip you are taking in electric vehicles. You all should feel so proud that that is happening here, right?ĭOMONOSKE: So we've stopped at churches, college campuses, union halls, research labs and factories - all about this push towards clean energy. JENNIFER GRANHOLM: This is where people will be working to build electric vehicles to clean up our transportation system. Here's one of the things that the secretary of energy said at a town hall in South Carolina. Some people are calling it the Battery Belt. It's all about bringing attention to these billions of dollars in funding that the Biden administration is spending for clean energy, for electric vehicle chargers, for the batteries that go into electric vehicles.Īnd why these states? A lot of it has to do with all of this - these manufacturing projects that are coming to this area. We are going from Atlanta to Chattanooga. She is in a Cadillac Lyriq, which is a different - a very nice electric vehicle. So I am with a group of vehicles that's traveling with the secretary of energy. SUMMERS: So where are you right now, and what is this trip all about?ĭOMONOSKE: Yeah. Hey, Camila.ĬAMILA DOMONOSKE, BYLINE: Hi, Juana. She is driving through the southeastern United States on what she's calling the, quote, "people-powered summer road trip."Īnd NPR's Camila Domonoske is along for the ride and joins us now. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, is on the road now making the case for it. The Biden administration has big ambitions for a switch to green energy.
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