A new digital mapping tool developed by CBRE, a real estate services company, has revealed significant gaps in electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure even in Los Angeles, a leading EV market. This discovery is notable because if a city like L.A. struggles with charging availability, the situation is likely worse in other parts of the country. The tool, which aggregates data from various sources including mobile phones and traffic patterns, aims to help charging networks and property owners identify optimal locations for new chargers. Notably, areas such as Inglewood, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, and Fullerton are identified as “charging deserts” with high needs for more public charging stations.
The lack of sufficient charging infrastructure in L.A.’s suburbs highlights several contributing factors, such as high percentages of rental housing, limited parking, and inadequate electrical substations. Despite nearly 588,000 registered EVs in L.A. and ongoing efforts by the city to install chargers on light poles, areas like Inglewood still lack public chargers even with significant daily traffic and resident EV ownership. This situation underscores the broader challenges facing the U.S. as it attempts to support a growing shift from gasoline to electric vehicles. The current national infrastructure, with about 186,000 public charging ports, predominantly slower Level 2 chargers, is still far from meeting the demand for widespread EV adoption.
