Speaker 1: 2024 is shaping up to be the year that we finally figure out this whole charging our electric cars thing and not a moment too soon. Today we have more choices than ever for what I consider to be good EVs, the kind of cars with good reliability and more than enough range for your around town daily driving. But according to a 2023 study by JD Power Electric car, charging for longer trips is one of the biggest concerns for potential EV adopters and the ev curious, but that could be about to change.
Speaker 1: Now throughout 2023, [00:00:30] we saw a wave of automakers adopting the newly opened North American charging standard, AKA max, a k, a, the Tesla plug with established automakers like Ford, Hyundai, Kia, and BMW, as well as startups like Rivian and Lucid. At this point, only the Volkswagen Group and Stellantis are the only holdouts to the party, but I’ve got a feeling that at some point we’re going to hear something from them in the future. Now, if you paid as close of attention to these announcements as I have, you’ll notice that pretty much all of the automakers have ion identical timelines, [00:01:00] and there’s a good reason for that. You see, in 2024, we’ll start to see the rollout of CCS to N adapters, and that’s to give Tesla time to ramp up its charging standards to accommodate all of this new third party traffic. And then in 2025 and beyond, we’ll start to see the first next native third party vehicles rolling into dealerships. Now, does this mean that CCS is dead in America? Probably not. There’s still millions of electric cars on the road today and they’re not going anywhere, and there will be more CCS equipped electric cars rolling out [00:01:30] into 20 25, 20 26 and beyond. However, the widespread availability of fairly inexpensive CCS to NAX and N is CCS adapters that you can just keep in your truck for the day that you need. It means that for all EV drivers, there’s going to be more choice and more compatibility for where you charge your car.
Speaker 1: Speaking of where you charge your car, if all goes to plan, 2024 will be the year that we see a boom in electric vehicle charging stations. For starters, this year we’ll see the first fruits of that 2021 National Electric [00:02:00] vehicle infrastructure plan begin to ripen. That’s a $5 billion investment in building electric vehicle charging stations every 50 miles along North America’s major interstates and highways. And the first of those DC fast charging stations will begin to roll out at the beginning of this year. Meanwhile, seven major automakers are collaborating on a mega network of DC fast charging stations with both NAX and CCS charging ports. That’s going to eventually scale up to around 30,000 stations in 2025 ish. And the first [00:02:30] of those stations is rolling out, you guessed it. This year in 2024, even gas stations are getting into the mix. BP announced that it’s buying a hundred million dollars worth of chargers from Tesla for its BP Pulse Station.
Speaker 1: Bucky’s is partnering with Mercedes-Benz. Pilot is joining up with GM and Travel Center is working with Electrified America to add thousands of DC charging points to hundreds of service stations near you. And as a nice bonus, all of these networks rolling out federally OEM and privately funded are make use of [00:03:00] TAP to pay with your credit card so that you don’t have to keep yet another app on your phone to pay for your EV’s charging. And of course, 2024 sees the arrival of a bunch of highly anticipated electric cars to choose from Chevrolet’s Blazer. EV is hitting the road now and while I’ll miss the affordable and compact bolt, the blazer in particular is a, hence the machine with a dizzying variety of configurations, including front, rear, and all-wheel drive variant for its Ultium electric powertrain, which will also power GM’s [00:03:30] Equinox, the Honda Prologue, and Acura VVX.
Speaker 1: Volvo is poised to slide into the affordable EV space with a plum in 2024 debuting the EX 30 starting at around $36,000. The compact electric SUV promises around 270 miles of range, but if you check the right boxes, the Twin Motor EX 30 will hit 60 seconds in three and a half seconds earning it. The title of the Quickest Production Volvo Ever. For those looking for a large and angular ev, [00:04:00] there’s the Kia EV nine, which stretches the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle platform to its largest configuration. Yet the three row SUV promises up to 300 miles of range when it hits the road in early 2024 with a balance of value, tech, and quality that we’ve come to expect from its sibling, the Kia EV six, more charging stations and more convenient places with more compatibility and of course, more electric cars to choose from. 2024 is shaping up to be a very interesting year in the electrification [00:04:30] of America’s roads. For more news and reviews, including a longer list of the best and most anticipated EVs of the year, be sure to head over to cnet.com.