Here's a State-by-State Breakdown of Electric Vehicle Charging Networks Ahead of New Federal Aid

An initial $900 million in federal funds has been approved ahead of schedule to start building a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations connecting 53,000 miles of highways across the country.

President Biden made the announcement Wednesday at the Detroit Auto Show. The event showcased electric vehicles from traditional automakers as well as newcomers in a mutual bet that the future of transportation is going to be electric.

The initial round of funding is part of $7.5 billion allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build a national network of 500,000 electric chargers by 2030. The effort is aimed at helping to create a national network that makes finding a charging station as easy as finding a gas station.

Automotive industry experts say the lack of charging stations has discouraged many motorists from purchasing electric vehicles because they fear of running out of power while still on the road. Nevertheless, automakers such as Ford, General Motors and Rivian are rapidly preparing to manufacture hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles in coming years, in part to meet Biden’s goal for electric vehicles to make up 50% of all vehicles sold in the United States by 2030.

But there's a wide disparity among how much effort some states have already put into building out their networks of charging ports before funds from Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law were on the table. The Northeast, as well as California, have mostly led the way, while a handful of states in the Southeast and the Great Plains have sat at the bottom.

Washington, D.C., had the most existing electric vehicle charging ports per square mile with 12.6, according to September data from the Department of Energy. That's not surprising considering it is the smallest of the ranked places at only 61 square miles.

Other small states also placed high in the rankings, though they're far behind Washington. Massachusetts, which ranked No. 2, has 0.66 charging ports per square mile. Rhode Island placed third with 0.62 ports. Maryland was fourth with 0.36 ports. New Jersey was fifth with 0.28 ports.

California, on the other hand, is a huge state at nearly 156,000 square miles. But the Golden State has installed so many charging ports that it still ranks among the best in the nation for ports per square mile. At No. 7, California has 0.24 ports per square mile. Pasadena, California, claims that its Marengo charging station is the largest in California with a total of 44 charging ports.

Some large states in the Great Plains and on the West Coast have their work cut out for them. Alaska — the country's largest state at more than 570,000 square miles — has 0.0002 ports per square mile, placing last. Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota rounded out the bottom five.

The Department of Energy's September data only includes publicly accessible charging ports and excludes ports located in private residences.

But the private sector is expected to be involved in states approved for funds this week from Biden's National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, which makes $5 billion available over five years. In fact, almost all of the charging stations funded through the program are expected to be operated by private companies.

In August, states submitted applications to the Federal Highway Administration detailing how they planned to use potential funding to build charging stations. The Biden administration's announcement includes approval of plans from 35 states, Puerto Rico, and D.C., according to a statement from the FHA.

The FHA is reviewing plans from the remaining states and is on track to finish the process by Sept. 30, acting FHA Administrator Stephanie Pollack said in the statement. States' plans that have not yet been approved include Texas, which is slated to get the most funds through the program at about $407.7 million, and New York, which is set to receive about $175.5 million.

“With the first set of approvals we are announcing today, 35 states across the country — with Democratic and Republican governors — will be moving forward to use these funds to install EV chargers at regular, reliable intervals along their highways,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in the statement.