Global Electric Vehicle Cords Top 1 Million
The Netherlands charging network is growing like lightning, while the U.S. lags.
A pedestrian passes an empty electric vehicle charge space in a parking lot in Gruenheide, Germany.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThe electric vehicle industry has quietly hit one of its biggest milestones to date, as the number of public charging plugs around the world ticks above the 1 million mark.
The options for juicing up a car that runs on electrons crossed the seven-figure threshold sometime in May, having doubled in just three years, according to the recent tally by BloombergNEF. Most of the new infrastructure has been built in China and Europe. North America, with far less robust public subsidy and support, remains a distant third in the charging race, though there is some hope that a pandemic stimulus plan will catalyze a new wave of construction.