The United States Needs More Fast Chargers: China Can Show How

This report by RMI argues that the United States must rapidly expand its public direct current fast-charging (DCFC) infrastructure to meet decarbonization targets and ensure equitable EV access. It contrasts the current incremental growth in the US with China's aggressive, policy-driven scale-up, which has significantly lowered equipment costs and consumer prices through national priorities, utility tariff reforms, and concentrated charging stations.

• The United States currently lacks sufficient public direct current fast-charging (DCFC) infrastructure to meet 1.5°C global temperature targets. Of the 17,000 existing fast-charging plugs, over half are owned by Tesla and a third are located in California. California alone is expected to require up to 25,000 public fast-chargers by 2025 to support its goal of 5 million EVs by 2030.
• Economic barriers in the US lead to incremental rather than exponential DCFC growth because most stations lose money unless they are highly utilized. This creates a risk of inequity, as lower-income drivers who lack home charging must rely on public charging, which typically costs 2–3 times more than home charging.
• China achieved rapid scale and affordability in its charging network through a comprehensive national policy framework since 2014. Key strategies included prioritizing the electrification of taxis and logistics fleets to drive demand, allowing charging stations to use lower "industrial electricity rates" with exemptions from demand charges until 2025, and implementing provincial or municipal subsidies that can cover up to 30 percent of installation costs.
• China's focus on "concentrated" charging stations—densely populated with plugs—has reduced costs by spreading utility interconnection and land expenses over more assets. For example, one station in Shenzhen was installed with 637 fast-chargers. This scale reduced the cost of a 50 kW DCFC unit to approximately $3,000 between 2016 and 2019, whereas comparable units in the US cost between $20,000 and $35,000.
• To build a ubiquitous network, the US needs national, state, and local goals, redesigned utility rates, and active utility participation in cost-sharing. While the US faces a complex landscape of various utility types, it has a unique opportunity to improve business model sustainability through demand response in its wholesale electricity market.

APA

RMI (2021). The United States Needs More Fast Chargers: China Can Show How. https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-needs-more-fast-chargers-china-can-show-how/

Chicago

RMI. The United States Needs More Fast Chargers: China Can Show How. 2021. https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-needs-more-fast-chargers-china-can-show-how/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=The United States Needs More Fast Chargers: China Can Show How |date=29 January 2021 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-needs-more-fast-chargers-china-can-show-how/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2021united, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{The United States Needs More Fast Chargers: China Can Show How}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-united-states-needs-more-fast-chargers-china-can-show-how/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }