If you have a gas car, you never really need to double-check which gas station you go to when you fill up. Every gas station in North America is compatible with every personal vehicle. This standardized fuel network enables our gas-driven transportation system in a way that most of us don't notice on a day-to-day basis.
If you have an electric vehicle, though, you do notice this. Or rather, you notice that a similar network is missing. There are currently 3 different charging standards for EV's in the US, so drivers have to routinely check maps to find compatible chargers or purchase and travel with expensive adaptors. The lack of charger standardization and availability has stood as one of the larger barriers to EV adoption in the US, which currently sit at a paltry 6% of total vehicle sales.
This needs to change quickly in order to meet the ambitious goals set by the Biden administration and car manufacturers and to eliminate the use of fossil fuels as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the majority of the major US-based automakers announced this summer that they would be transitioning to Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) by 2025, opening a path to total standardization across the US EV charging network.
This week, we're diving into how and why this standardization process unfolded and why technical standards matter when it comes to technological transformation. We're joined this week by Andrew Russell, Officer-In-Charge and Professor of Science and Technology History and SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org.
Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join.
Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.
Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!