The race in on between the states for who can lead the way in electric car usage. Currently, Missouri is ranking number seven but struggling to get the public EV charging access it needs for its drivers. In Kansas City, Missouri, their utility providers have been helping with funding accessible public EV chargers. The state of Missouri is expected to receive an upwards of $99 million dollars from the new federal EV funding programs.

The federal government has been putting in new legislation to help combate climate change. The plan is to phase out gas-powered vehicles and have half of all vehicle sales be electric by 2035. There are numerous funding programs for the Biden Administration to delegate millions in federal funds to each state for their charging network infrastructures. The main issue with the plan so far is the lack of access people have to public EV chargers. This is especially true in low-income areas. Kansas City also has this issue of electric charging stations being sparser in certain areas of the city where there is an income divide.

Electric vehicles are becoming a more realistic option for people on the market for new cars. There are many new models out now with a variety of price ranges for drivers in different financial brackets. There has been lots of legislation, federal, state and local, to help encourage green energy and electric vehicles.

Click here to read the full article, published May 25, 2022, by Missouri Independent.