Ocasio-Cortez, Levin eye national EV network in five years

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Andy Levin (D-Mich.) on Thursday outlined a bill that seeks to establish a nationwide electric vehicle charging network within five years. 

Their Electric Vehicle Freedom Act, which was slated to be introduced Thursday, would establish the network along the nation’s highway systems and also promote compatibility between chargers and cars, affordability and the creation of automotive and infrastructure jobs, Levin said at a press conference. 

“We’re trying to actually advance and improve our fleets and our vehicles, which means that we have to go electric and the way that we do that is with a public infrastructure,” Ocasio-Cortez said. 

Levin declined to give a specific cost estimate, but said that “it’ll cost a lot of money to put all these chargers in place.” He said “we’ll see” how much will be paid for by taxpayers and how much hosts will pay. 

He also didn’t give specifics about the numbers of chargers or their locations, but said that it would be an “extensive” system across both interstates and the national highway system “such that it’s a comprehensive system so that people can get everywhere.”

The lawmaker said that the secretaries of Energy and Transportation would be tasked with with figuring out the network. 

The legislation follows an infrastructure framework announced last week by House Democrats that also aims to develop an electric vehicle charging network. 

Levin said that he has had “very good discussions” with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee but that his bill is more “specifically ambitious.”