Building EV Charging Infrastructure Can Create Significant Number of Jobs
Electrification will play a crucial role in the future as the world tries to move away from fossil fuels and cut down on carbon emissions. Presently, electric vehicles comprise a small percentage of the vehicles on America’s roads. Most electric vehicle (“EV”) models are too expensive for the average driver, and the country’s network of public charging stations still leaves a lot to be desired. With EV prices steadily reducing, investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is the next best way to boost EV adoption.
Analysis by industry experts now shows that building EV charging infrastructure will not only alleviate range anxiety, but it will also create a lot of new job opportunities. Despite its relatively small size, the EV sector has weathered the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant financial downturn quite admirably while other industries, even the auto sector, struggled. But to support an influx of thousands, if not millions of electric vehicles on the roads, the EV space will need to invest heavily in a widespread network of public charging stations.
In California, such infrastructure could support an estimated 71,500 job years over the next decade. Note that “job year” refers to a job that continues for 12 months, or one job for a year. President Joseph Biden has unveiled a plan to install a whopping 500,000 fast-charging stations across the country, and if his plan succeeds, such an undertaking could support up to 30,000 job years. As expected, it will be a boom for electricians, especially those who have gone through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program and are certified.
DC fast chargers, which can refill an EV in around half an hour or less, will require more qualified electricians due to the complexity of installing such chargers. Aside from electricians, developing EV charging infrastructure will also create jobs for general contracting, planning and design, utility line work, electrical contracting and administrators, among others. To reduce reliance on the grid, which often uses fossil fuels to generate electricity, on-site solar panels will also be required, creating even more job days for electric contractors.
The push for electrification has mostly been limited to light-duty passenger vehicles, but when medium- and heavy-duty electric buses and trucks are included in the analysis, the number of job years increase. In California, the number would be bumped by an extra 9,090 job years, and all these stations would require constant maintenance, providing even more jobs. With the country struggling to recover from the ongoing COVID-19 recession, electrification could provide thousands of much-needed jobs.
Such research highlights how diverse the contribution of companies in the electric vehicle value chain, such as Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX), is in terms of creating downstream jobs as well as protecting the environment from further degradation.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/IDEX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the Green Car Stocks website applicable to all content provided by GCS, wherever published or re-published: https://www.GreenCarStocks.com/Disclaimer
Electrification will play a crucial role in the future as the world tries to move away from fossil fuels and cut down on carbon emissions. Presently, electric vehicles comprise a small percentage of the vehicles on America’s roads. Most electric vehicle (“EV”) models are too expensive for the average driver, and the country’s network of public charging stations still leaves a lot to be desired. With EV prices steadily reducing, investing in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is the next best way to boost EV adoption.
Analysis by industry experts now shows that building EV charging infrastructure will not only alleviate range anxiety, but it will also create a lot of new job opportunities. Despite its relatively small size, the EV sector has weathered the coronavirus pandemic and the resultant financial downturn quite admirably while other industries, even the auto sector, struggled. But to support an influx of thousands, if not millions of electric vehicles on the roads, the EV space will need to invest heavily in a widespread network of public charging stations.
In California, such infrastructure could support an estimated 71,500 job years over the next decade. Note that “job year” refers to a job that continues for 12 months, or one job for a year. President Joseph Biden has unveiled a plan to install a whopping 500,000 fast-charging stations across the country, and if his plan succeeds, such an undertaking could support up to 30,000 job years. As expected, it will be a boom for electricians, especially those who have gone through the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program and are certified.
DC fast chargers, which can refill an EV in around half an hour or less, will require more qualified electricians due to the complexity of installing such chargers. Aside from electricians, developing EV charging infrastructure will also create jobs for general contracting, planning and design, utility line work, electrical contracting and administrators, among others. To reduce reliance on the grid, which often uses fossil fuels to generate electricity, on-site solar panels will also be required, creating even more job days for electric contractors.
The push for electrification has mostly been limited to light-duty passenger vehicles, but when medium- and heavy-duty electric buses and trucks are included in the analysis, the number of job years increase. In California, the number would be bumped by an extra 9,090 job years, and all these stations would require constant maintenance, providing even more jobs. With the country struggling to recover from the ongoing COVID-19 recession, electrification could provide thousands of much-needed jobs.
Such research highlights how diverse the contribution of companies in the electric vehicle value chain, such as Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX), is in terms of creating downstream jobs as well as protecting the environment from further degradation.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/IDEX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the Green Car Stocks website applicable to all content provided by GCS, wherever published or re-published: https://www.GreenCarStocks.com/Disclaimer
