Electric vehicle charging infrastructure is growing at a slower rate in rural America, according to an analysis by EV charging data analytics firm Paren.
In a Daily Yonder article, Julia Tilton said, “As of the first quarter of 2025, 45% of rural counties installed at least one fast EV charging port, compared to 76.5% in Metropolitan County.” Rural chargers tend to be less utilised. “For privately funded charging stations to break investments, they must achieve a certain percentage that is typically greater than the teenager or low 20s.”
State and federal funding can offset this “new charge split” by covering the costs of connecting to utilities, hardware rebates, and other incentives. This is unlikely to happen under President Trump, who tried to end the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program (the fate of the program is still pending court decisions).
Paren’s chief analyst Loren McDonald compared EV infrastructure to electricity. In the 1930s, the Federal Rural Electrification Act provided federal loans to allow rural areas to install electrical systems. “There are literally some things that require government help, otherwise it would never happen.”
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