Building Sustainable Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicle Requires Aligned Planning

Sustainable infrastructure refers to systems and facilities designed to meet societal needs while minimizing negative environmental impacts, efficiently using resources, and supporting long-term social and economic goals. It encompasses key areas such as transportation, energy grids, and water management, all central to building a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. Sustainable infrastructure comes in two key forms: infrastructures built with low-carbon materials that reduce environmental impact during construction, and infrastructures that help transition toward a renewable and lower-carbon society. With the rapid development of the electric vehicle (EV) industry aimed at a low carbon future, electric vehicle charging stations are also becoming a critical part of this sustainable infrastructure. They are essential to support the growth of the EV industry, ensuring that drivers have access to convenient, reliable, and fast charging energy supplies. 

However, the development of charging infrastructure has not kept pace with the rapid adoption of EVs, creating obstacles to the goal of EVs further replacing traditional vehicles in the future. As a result, a collective effort between the public and private sectors is needed to address this gap. Driven by market demand, private companies have the motivation to increase the number of charging stations and to optimize their layout, while the government can support this initiative by providing policy support and strengthening grid configuration to meet the growing demand. 

The scale of the EV infrastructure gap in many places is alarming. As of January 2024, there are only about 183,000 individual charging outlets within the 61,000 public charging stations in the U.S. At the same time, the U.S. is estimated to have more than 3 million EVs on the road. Honestly, this is not a remarkable figure for a country with 239 million licensed drivers. Having only one charging outlet for every 17 EVs is still far from enough for meeting the demand. Furthermore, previous data shows that the EV-to-charger ratio in the U.S. has reached around 17 as early as 2021, indicating that little progress has been made in expanding charging infrastructure over the past few years in the U.S.. Similarly in Europe, the average EV-to-charger ratio among EU countries is also above 15, primarily because electric vehicle sales have surged while the expansion of charging infrastructure has not kept pace. Additionally, almost 90% of the charging points in Europe are still slow chargers, which can take hours to charge a vehicle fully. 

Even in China, the global leader in EV development, the charging infrastructure is also facing unique problems. If the problems in the U.S. and Europe stem mainly from a lack of attention to the development of EV infrastructure aimed at rising EV sales, China’s predicament is the uneven distribution of chargers between urban and rural areas, leaving many rural regions underserved. In 2024, China owns over 85% of the world’s fast chargers and around 60% of slow chargers. However, the number of charging stations in rural areas and along highways is disproportionately low. 

Some solutions to the problem of EV infrastructure insufficiency already exist. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can be an effective way for countries with high EV-to-charger ratios to rapidly expand their charging infrastructure. One of the main barriers that prevents the construction of EV charging stations is the long payback period, which some financial institutions estimate to be almost 10 years. Some researchers even suspect that certain public charging economic models—especially direct current fast charging—could be not profitable at all. Under such circumstances, only industry giants like Tesla, and companies that mainly operate slow-charging stations like ChargePoint, dare to invest heavily in EV infrastructure, which makes the U.S. EV infrastructure increasingly stretched and in dire straits. 

There are researchers suggesting that government subsidies could fundamentally reverse this situation. A study by McKinsey shows that government subsidies can significantly transform the economic viability of EV charging stations—especially public fast charging stations. Without subsidies or credits, these stations typically operate with annual earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) losses of $40,000-$50,000. However, subsidies or tax credits from programs such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program can turn the station’s annual EBIT positive, generating a profit of $25,000-$30,000. 

Despite substantial government subsidies, the expansion of EV charging infrastructure in the U.S. has been slower than expected due to several factors. One major obstacle is the complex regulatory and bureaucratic requirements for accessing federal funds, which have delayed the construction of new charging stations. For example, the NEVI program has seen slow progress as states navigate the contracting process and meet federal standards. In addition, companies need time to adapt their operations, source equipment, and scale up to meet the demand for EV chargers. Given time, domestic producers are likely to rise to the challenge as these hurdles are gradually addressed. 

For more immediate results, accepting experienced foreign EV charging providers, which already have well-established public EV infrastructure and excess capacity, could help countries with high EV-to-charger ratios to close the gap in the short term while domestic companies scale their operations​. While the U.S. and Europe are focusing on trade protectionism in the EV sector, especially by imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and key components like batteries, there are no significant tariffs on EV charging station-related products or infrastructure at this time. International trade in charging stations remains open—and should remain open. After all, rapid EV growth cannot happen without sufficient charging stations that provide consumers with confidence in the network’s availability and reliability. 

Another factor that limits the development of electric vehicle charging stations is the carrying capacity of the power grid. As mentioned earlier, even though the EV-to-charger ratio is lower than three in China, the charging stations are mainly concentrated in megacities. Rural areas do not have enough charging stations, so electric vehicles are not widely used outside cities and are not usually used for long-distance travel. This is mainly due to the fact that power grids in some places—especially rural areas—-tend to have lower capacity and rely on older infrastructure that is not designed for the sharp increases in demand associated with EV fast charging. The same problem also plagues other countries. 

To address these challenges, governments must invest in grid modernization. This includes upgrading transformers, substations, and deploying smart grid technologies that allow for dynamic load balancing. Technologies such as Vehicle-to-Grid can also play a critical role by enabling EVs to send unused energy back to the grid during peak demand, helping balance supply and demand. In rural areas, where grid capacity is a significant limitation, renewable energy sources like solar and wind power offer another potential solution. Renewable energy-powered charging stations, paired with battery storage, can generate and store energy locally, thus reducing reliance on the grid and enabling sustainable EV charging without overloading the existing infrastructure.

To ensure a successful transition to a more sustainable future, addressing the gap in EV charging infrastructure is essential. By fostering public-private partnerships, governments and companies can work together to expand charging networks based on market demand, and international trade can also play a mutually beneficial role. Additionally, grid modernization and renewable energy integration will be crucial in supporting the rising demand, particularly in rural areas. These collaborative efforts are key to building a sustainable, reliable infrastructure that supports the future of EVs.