Is Biden’s goal to build charging stations for electric cars leaving low-income areas behind?

theguardian.com:

The US government is throwing billions of dollars at building a network of charging stations to help boost uptake of electric cars. But some advocates worry the charging spots will bypass the disadvantaged communities that have until now found electric vehicles well beyond their reach.

In Indiana, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has complained that the state’s draft plan for the rollout of electric vehicle (EV) chargers has not properly consulted people of color, doesn’t specify any chargers in Black-owned businesses and focuses the new infrastructure on highways that cut through neighborhoods, rather than the neighborhoods themselves.

“We think process is flawed and rigged against Black communities, Black businesses and other frontline communities of color,” said Denise Abdul-Rahman, Indiana state chair for the NAACP’s environmental justice program. “There’s been no real outreach here.

“We want the economic benefits of these chargers too, the modernized grids so we don’t have so many power outages, to get our school buses off diesel. We don’t want two Indianas and two Americas, one with roundabouts and clean air and charging stations and another riding around in fossil fuel cars and breathing in all the pollution. We want a just transition.”

Joe Biden’s administration has set a goal of having 500,000 fast-charging EV points across the US and last year’s infrastructure bill set aside $7.5bn to help with the first stages. A constraining factor to the popularity of EVs in the US, which comprise less than 5% of car sales, is driver anxiety over range, with many parts of the country lacking adequate charging infrastructure.

In February, states were asked to submit plans for charging networks