If you want to switch to an electric vehicle (EV), help is on the way. ChargeX, a new industry consortium created by President Biden’s Department of Energy, is working to improve the reliability and usability of electric car charging stations.
In addition to the Department of Energy, the consortium includes nearly 30 companies. Among them are big names such as Tesla, Electrify America, ChargePoint, and Ford.
ChargeX will set minimum standards for projects that are funded under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. The ultimate goal of the consortium is to ensure that customers get guaranteed plug-in success whenever they use public EV chargers.
ChargeX will form three working groups in order to achieve its mission. The first group will define and publish key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure customer charging experience. The second group will investigate the root causes of public EV charger problems and identify solutions. The final group will design new diagnostic and testing tools. These tools will ensure that EV charging systems created by different companies will be able to work together seamlessly.
ChargeX aims to achieve significant, measurable improvement to the electric charging network by June 2025.
In addition, the US government will fund scientific research to help ChargeX reach its goals. This research will be based at Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
While many companies are working individually to create sophisticated electric car charging stations, it takes collaboration across the industry to create a reliable national charging network. The ChargeX program recognizes this fact and will make EV industry collaboration a reality. As a result, it’s never been a better time to be an electric car owner in America.
