We Need to Put a Charge into Congress
Without a national network of charging stations, the U.S. risks falling behind in the EV race. The consequences would be severe. But our elected representatives would rather bicker than improve our infrastructure.
BY HOWARD
TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH
INVESTORS@TULLMAN
If you're too young to remember the great
videotape format competition between Sony's Betamax and JVC's VHS, which drove
the film industry crazy, then consider the ongoing mobile operating system wars
between Apple's iOS and the Android system. In the private technology sector,
early format wars and incompatible systems are par for the course initially,
and then eventually resolve down to one or two major players given the
"winners take all" nature of the software business. The user pressure
for simplicity, consistency and standardization combined with the financial
advantages that unitary solutions and economies of scale offer make these
concentrations (not to say oligopolies or monopolies) virtually inevitable.
Interestingly enough, it's only in rare cases
that the early entrants and first movers in new tech arenas survive and thrive
in the end. As often as not, the pioneers are folded into later entering,
better funded, and more astute players. That's why there are no more IBM
laptops. The key to the fast followers' knowledge advantage, of course, is that
they have the benefit of seeing and learning from the mistakes of those who
went before and plowed the path but stumbled mightily along the way. It's a
shame that our elected and appointed representatives can't seem to ever do the
same.
In between the start and conclusion of each
such disruptive technology cycle, billions of dollars of venture capital
funding are wasted supporting the dreams, fantasies, and ultimately futile
efforts of the wanna-bees and the also-rans. But dumping tons of dollars down
multiple ratholes in search of the one or two winners (the power law) is not
only expected today, it's encouraged and taken for granted. Venture capital is
a lot like vitamins -- 80% of it is regularly pissed away. But the same
approach almost never works in government. It's generally all wasted time and
money with a lot of downsides.
This "shoot for the moon" venture
approach is fine for the private sector, since they're spending OPM anyway. But
wasting billions of our tax dollars and - worse yet - delaying and frustrating
the critical development of new technology systems, shouldn't be the model for
our government or the performative clowns in Congress. And yes, I realize that
this may be frighteningly naïve as we watch these morons become more venal,
hypocritical, and embarrassing every day. Nor does it help that they're
forever in the pockets of the various corporations and industry lobbyists who
oppose virtually any major change on behalf of whoever's lining their pockets
at the moment.
What little hope I have for any kind of
productive and rational action by our government representatives in the
particular and increasingly important area of increased adoption and
utilization of electric vehicles comes from two converging considerations: (a)
the inescapable and remarkable advantage responsible regulators have to employ
the same kind of foresight fast followers in the private sector regularly
benefit from and (b) the indisputable fact, although that idea itself seems
oxymoronic today, that creating, promulgating, and ultimately regulating
matters of national concern such as interstate travel and commerce at the
federal level is one of the clearest and most obvious responsibilities of
Congress.
Putting aside the recent proclamations of
backward morons like Florida Senator Rick Scott who would like to abolish the
entire federal regulatory structure in virtually every area, it's clear that
only Congress can regulate the infrastructure for electric vehicles. That
includes the manufacture, installation and deployment of both the on-board
vehicle connections and the rapid charging stations needed nationally if we are
seriously committed to encouraging the growth of the critical EV industry.
Leaving this responsibility up to the
individual states to develop confusing, inconsistent, and often flawed
solutions on their own will cost the country countless billions, waste years in
the futile process, and dramatically set back the acquisition and use of EVs by
millions of consumers. We have a chance to get ahead of this fast-moving wave
and we have the luxury of knowing that it's coming and how to deal with it, but
we'll only avoid the typical and traditional government delays, enormous costs,
and false starts if we begin immediately to demand action from our congressmen
and senators. The only way to get ahead is to get started now.
We need a universally accessible, standardized
and federally-mandated national network of high-speed charging stations
deployed at reasonable intervals throughout the U.S. - probably starting right
alongside the interstate highway system - which will accept the charging cords
from any vehicle, and we need it as soon as possible. President Biden's
infrastructure bill was going to provide for 500,000 charging stations for
electric vehicles, but the devil (apart from funding) is still in the details
of compatibility and locations.
Reliable, well distributed, and carefully
positioned charging stations are essential to addressing drivers' issues around
range anxiety as will the comforting knowledge of knowing just what to expect
when you get there in terms of assured, standard connectivity. It's the same
kind of comfort that made McDonald's such a success, there was nothing more
reassuring than seeing the Golden Arches looming large next to the highway
ahead - the food wasn't great or special, but it was reliably the same
everywhere - clean, fast, and filling.
At the same time, EV makers wishing to sell
their vehicles here would also be required to adopt a standardized interface
and compatible system that would work with the new charging stations. GM says
it expects to be 100% EV by 2035 and Ford recently said that 50% of its
vehicles will be electric by 2030, but it would be insane to let these
obviously competitive efforts move forward without ongoing direction from the
Department of Transportation with regard to required standardization of the
various mechanical and software interfaces so that any available charging
station would suffice.
Sadly, as with so many other day-to-day
real-world concerns like health care and gasoline prices, our representatives
in Washington don't really appreciate how important cleaner and more
cost-effective transportation solutions are becoming and how falling prices are
making EVs more affordable. The average adult driver in America drives about
14,000 miles a year. D.C. drivers average only 7,000 miles a year and also have
one of the country's best public transportation systems -- not that anyone in
Congress uses it. These are people who get chauffeured around.
Advancing national vehicle electrification
with its obvious impacts on critical climate issues is simply too important and
too pressing a concern to be left to whims, prejudices, and vagaries of the
cretins in Congress. We need a continued, aggressive and consistent effort by
the media and the public to press and push our representatives to get out of
their own way, stop their infantile posturing and squabbling, and move these
very critical programs forward before we squander another crucial opportunity
and leave our country far worse off in the future.
APR 5, 2022
The
opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of
Inc.com.