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Power utilities are starting to get into the EV charging business. Utilities are motivated to make electric cars viable and in doing so shore up demand for the power they sell.

Growth of EVs has been hampered by a lack of charging infrastructure. Despite efforts by the EV industry and numerous partners, the development of charging infrastructure has been slow. Electric utilities are hoping to stop into the breach and contribute their significant resources to the cause.

“What the utilities can do is, they have scale, so they can drive costs down,” says Dan Bowermaster, manager of electric transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute. – As reported by the New York Times

The power utility in Kansas City, Mo is building a network of more than 1000 charging stations around the metro area. Pacific Gas and Electric in California has put forth a proposal with regulators to install 25,000 public chargers. Currently there are only 6,300 public chargers at 2000 stations in California, but the three major state utilities have proposals to install as many as 60,000 in the state.

Developing the car charging industry is easier said than done. A number of companies have gone out of business already despite generous federal support. In some states, utilities have been prohibited from entering the car charging market for fear of stifling competition.

EV industry executives welcome the power utilities as important partners, but existing companies in the charging business counter that the utilities should not be allowed to use ratepayer money to compete with them.