US Department of Energy expands loan program to include EV charging stations - Roadshow

When you go to the bank and ask for a loan, the bank usually wants some degree of guarantee that the money is going to good use and will eventually be repaid. This makes it a little tougher for those seeking to expand fledgling technologies. The govement has loan programs for this exact reason, and it's expanding one such program to include companies looking to build electric vehicle chargers.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has expanded its federal loan guarantee program to extend to companies wishing to build more EV chargers. The whole idea is to keep pushing for a thicker electric-vehicle infrastructure, which should help ease buyers' anxieties and potentially boost EV adoption rates, Reuters reports. As the govement considers charging stations to be part of transmission or distribution networks, they're eligible for a specific kind of govement loan.

Reuters also points out that the govement is partnering with some 50 companies, including automakers, utilities and EV-charger manufacturers, to help flesh out our country's charging infrastructure. Tesla, Ford, GM, BMW and others have signed on to the project. The govement also hopes that local govements will more readily purchase fleets of EVs.

While US sales of electric vehicles haven't met the govement's lofty expectations, it's hoping that additional infrastructure and incentives will bring us closer to those targets.