[HN Gopher] DOT approves $100M to fix the nation's broken EV cha...
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       DOT approves $100M to fix the nation's broken EV chargers
        
       Author : CharlesW
       Score  : 12 points
       Date   : 2023-09-16 19:49 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | Mizoguchi wrote:
       | As part of the settlement with the US over the emissions scandal,
       | Volkswagen agreed to invest in developing Electrify America.
       | 
       | What they did was to subcontract with multiple vendors who could
       | not agree on integrating their sloppy systems, so we ended up
       | with unreliable EV charging stations running on different
       | hardware and software managed by multiple companies with complete
       | lack of oversight by the federal government who now wants to
       | throw another $100M at it so the money can be stolen again.
        
       | Veedrac wrote:
       | Surely it's obvious to everyone how bad of an idea this is,
       | right? You can't just preferentially subsidize the worst
       | functioning utilities and expect this not to produce negative
       | incentives. If you want to subsidize public charging, subsidize
       | public charging, don't subsidize public charging utilities being
       | broken.
        
       | quantum2022 wrote:
       | Do they do this for gas terminals? One got hit by a car near
       | where I work a few weeks back. I doubt the government is paying
       | to replace it; the gas station is. Why aren't ev owners paying
       | for these?
        
         | pstuart wrote:
         | Gas has been subsidized quite a bit. This is an investment that
         | has the potential to pay off significantly.
        
         | brianwawok wrote:
         | I mean, do they pay for my cancer I get from breathing Dino-
         | bone-juice smoke filled air as someone in the middle class who
         | doesn't qualify for free healthcare? Because for all the harm
         | we inflicted in the name of oil, sure can't hurt to spend a
         | little giving us another path forward.
        
       | wholesomepotato wrote:
       | If you're homeless: LOL, sorry, nothing we can do about it,
       | except maybe helping you OD.
       | 
       | If you're affluent: here is discount for solar panels, here some
       | other one for home improvements, here is a discount for Tesla,
       | here let me make sure you have a good charging experience. Here
       | is your badge for saving the planet.
        
         | Mizoguchi wrote:
         | Indeed
        
         | culopatin wrote:
         | Honestly if they are just going to waste money in gradualist
         | measures that don't really help anyone, might as well spend it
         | on the people that actually generate the funding the state
         | uses. Most people in homeless+drugs situations need someone to
         | make the right decision for them, but politically that's
         | totalitarian, so society votes against that.
         | 
         | Want to fix someone's drug addiction that prevents them from
         | getting a real job and securing a lease? Won't do that with
         | "let's give them a blanket and see if tomorrow they choose to
         | stop cold Turkey". You need more of a "ok buddy, sorry, but
         | we're gonna take you into a recovery center and help you go
         | through withdrawals and take the driver seat for you for a
         | while".
        
         | ChrisClark wrote:
         | Is saving the planet bad?
        
         | pstuart wrote:
         | There's a shit-ton of money being spent on the Homeless
         | Industrial Complex (locally), that to date has not made a
         | significant difference.
         | 
         | This also presents a false dichotomy that the dollars that flow
         | into programs like these are "stolen" from homeless people.
         | 
         | Electrification of transit is very much a chicken and egg
         | scenario, and efforts like this can go a long way to balance
         | that out -- it's a good investment but I worry about the
         | ability to do it right.
        
         | KMnO4 wrote:
         | Considering tax is a percentage of your income, I'm not sure
         | how this is a surprise.
        
       | jiveturkey wrote:
       | is that a lot?
        
       | hackermatic wrote:
       | From the actual Notice of Funding Opportunity[0], state and local
       | governments have to apply for this money, which can cover both
       | public and private chargers.
       | 
       | So one problem with this is that your government actually has to
       | care about sustaining EV adoption, which a lot of them don't.
       | 
       | [0] https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-
       | opportunity.html?oppI...
        
         | peyton wrote:
         | Which states don't care? All 50 states+PR+DC have submitted
         | NEVI plans and received approval.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-16 23:02 UTC)