Florida sits on federal EV money that could provide more chargers

EV changers on Florida's Turnpike, via Florida DOT

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Last week, lots of people were tee-heeing or tsk-tsking about the Florida Department of Transportation taking down the old “Welcome to Florida” signs (or “WTF” for short). The DOT then put up new state line signs saying, “Welcome to the Free State of Florida.”

Free — to do what, exactly? Drive reeeeeally fast because you’re late for work ? Go three miles with your left turn signal on and then turn right? Flip off the guy who cut you off in traffic and then hold your breath while you wait to see whether he’s armed?

When a reporter asked Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez about the signs, she started blabbering about abortion — not the first thing you think of when you see a highway sign.

“We believe that we provide freedom, freedom to right to life, of course for those babies,” she said. Freedom of choice for women is apparently not a consideration here, which prompts me to ask: If the pro-abortion constitutional amendment passes this fall, will the Florida DOT take down the new signs and put the old ones back up?

In case you’re wondering, the signs themselves were definitely not free. They cost us taxpayers $60,000, according to WJXT-TV. In other words, they’re just like Gov. Ron “I’m Speaking at the RNC Because I Finally Kissed Trump’s Uhhhh Ring ” DeSantis’ migrant flights. They’re just another state-sponsored stunt to “own the libs” with the bill paid by people who weren’t asking for even a short-term rental of the libs.

I recently heard about another Florida DOT political stunt that’s even kookier than these dopey signs.

Under part of the poorly named Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Congress passed in 2021, Florida is slated to receive $198 million over five years from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program.

“The program is designed to expand the nation’s fast-charging network by adding more chargers within a mile of interstates, helping EV drivers travel greater distances without the ‘range anxiety’ of getting stranded on a dead battery,” the Tampa Bay Times reported last month . “Businesses that receive the funding get enough to cover about 80% of the costs of installing the chargers and must put up the other 20%.”

Florida submitted a plan for spending the money, and the federal government approved it. But now Florida is one of 15 states that won’t allow any companies to apply for the money. Of those, Florida is the biggest state dragging its feet.

Turns out this delay is not your typical case of bureaucrats moving slower than a three-toed sloth climbing a greased pole in a driving rainstorm. They’re doing this on purpose.

Instead of handing out those federal millions, the Florida DOT has set up a silly website called “Roads Are Not For Politics.” Contrary to its name, the site features a laundry list of culture-war complaints, such as “COVID tyranny,” as well as criticism of electric vehicles.

DOT Secretary Jared Perdue gets featured in a lot of the rhetoric, making blustery statements like, “Florida will continue to stand up for our freedoms and ensure Federal Green New Deal initiatives don’t impact Floridians.” I think the “ha-rumph” is implied.

I read about this weird situation last week in a publication called “Inside EVs” that — unlike the Times — managed to pry a comment out of the Florida DOT’s spokesman, Michael Williams.

“Free enterprise, not federal mandates, are the driving force when any industry experiences growth,” said Williams. He’s apparently unaware of who built the interstate highways, which fueled the trucking industry , not to mention who built the space program, which boosted the people making instant breakfast drinks .

“Nothing prohibits the private sector from building out our nation’s charging network, he sniffed. “With the total number of EVs on the road today constituting approximately 1% of all vehicles registered across the nation, ‘low consumer demand’ is an accurate statement.”

There’s one big problem with that last statement: People in Florida loooove EVs, and I mean A LOT. In fact, Florida now has more than 168,000 registered EVs — the second highest number in the nation. That’s quite a jump from 58,000 in 2021.

You know what we don’t have here?

Enough places to plug them in.

Kings of the road

Believe it or not, electric cars seemed like the wave of the future in the late 1800s . Ferdinand Porsche built one in 1898. Thomas Edison , a part-time Florida resident , thought electric vehicles were the superior technology of the day and worked to make a better battery.

But then, in 1908, Henry Ford — Edison’s neighbor in Fort Myers — started mass-producing the Model T, which sold for far less than other cars. They swept the nation, killing the demand for electric vehicles. Fossil-fueled vehicles became kings of the road, spewing nasty emissions everywhere and stimulating the polluting oil and gas industry.

To quote country singer Jerry Reed , “Lord, Mr. Ford, I just wish that you could see what your simple horseless carriage has become.”

Ninety years later, though, EVs made a comeback. Toyota introduced the world’s first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle, the Prius . Other manufacturers followed. Slowly, the iron grip of gas-powered vehicle makers on the auto industry loosened.

The higher the price for a gallon of gas climbs, the more attractive EVs become. In 2020, Consumer Reports classified EVs as an overall better value than conventional cars. Reliable and sensibly priced cars are especially important for working folks in Florida, which has terrible mass transit (unless you count the Disney World shuttles).

The sitting president is obviously a big fan of them, since he pushed this pro-EV law through, plus another billion for converting idled auto factories to make more EVs .

His political rival, the smelly Palm Beach club owner who’s a convicted felon, hates them almost as much as he hates New York prosecutors. He has sworn he will kick them all to the curb .

“You’re not going to be able to sell those cars,” he said at one of his rallies. I’m sure his hostility has nothing to do with his plea to oil company executives to donate big bucks to his campaign .

He’s so opposed to EVs that it’s as if he’s the anti-Edison. He’s even ranted about other forms of EV transportation : “They want electric army tanks . They want electric planes. What happens if the sun isn’t shining while you’re up in the air?”

Heck, if someone invented the Jetsons’ flying car that folds up into a briefcase , he’d probably complain about the weight of the briefcase.

Once around the block

All the overheated political rhetoric left me feeling a little woozy, so I took a walk around my neighborhood to clear my head.

It’s a quiet, middle-class enclave. My neighbors include artists, teachers, and civil servants. One drives a Hummer, but I also spotted some EVs.

I talked to one of the EV owners. She bought her Tesla five years ago (before we all found out Elon Musk is such a billionaire bonehead ).

“I bought it because I wanted to do my part to reduce emissions, but also because I think they’re really fun to drive,” she told me. When I asked her to explain, she said, “It’s got tremendous pickup. There are no gears, so you just push the pedal down and you’re flying.”

The one drawback, she said, was “range anxiety” — being afraid she’ll run out of power when she travels to certain parts of Florida where chargers are scarce. That’s a legitimate concern.  Yet the Florida DOT is refusing to hand out federal money to fix that problem — money Florida taxpayers paid to the IRS.

“If Florida doesn’t use the money to build out charging infrastructure, then DeSantis is in essence cheating his own state’s residents of getting something in return for their tax payments,” Loren McDonald, CEO of analytics firm EVAdoption , told Inside EVs. Instead, we’re paying for the chargers in other states.

Plus, this federal investment would be good for Florida’s economy.

“Federal funding creates an opportunity for Florida’s taxpayers, workers, and drivers by helping EV infrastructure development keep up with demand for electric vehicles,” Sydney Timm of the advocacy group Drive Electric Florida told me. “Florida was allocated almost $200 million …, the third-most of any state, and the 20% cost share requirement can help to spur additional private investment.”

Yet those millions of dollars just sit there, unused. There’s a page on the Florida DOT website that describes the federal grant program, but it merely says, “Please monitor site for any updates.” So far, there aren’t any.

Feeling strongly both ways

You know who’s been in favor of boosting the number of chargers to keep up with the rising EV demand here?

None other than our own pudding-loving chief executive.

In 2020, DeSantis touted an $8.6 million state investment to “provide accessible electric vehicle infrastructure while also protecting air quality and expanding the state’s charging stations by 50% along most traveled corridors.” That money came from the feds too, from a settlement with VW for violations of the Clean Air Act .

Hard to believe that’s the same politician who, in the press release unveiling the anti-EV website , said, “Unlike the federal government, under my leadership Florida’s Department of Transportation is focused solely on transportation. We listen to Floridians and meet their needs. Roads are not for politics.”

(Everyone who suffered through the Unnecessary Toll Roads Built to Help Developers Era of DeSantis’ time in office knows better.)

Inside EVs pointed out that the Florida DOT even produced “ a robust EV Infrastructure Master Plan in 2021 that anticipated aggressive growth and a network of chargers to serve it.”

Meanwhile, the Florida DOT has been trumpeting the installation of more charging stations. An undated press release on its website is headlined, “Florida’s Turnpike Amps Up the Voltage.”

“Multiple companies, including Tesla, Florida Power & Light, and Duke Energy, are involved with installing charging stations at the eight Florida’s Turnpike Service Plazas,” The press release says. “Faster EV chargers, called EV Level 3, are being installed up and down Florida’s Turnpike, as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to create a more robust network of charging stations along the state’s highway system.”

Why would Florida’s DOT be so happy about that? “The increase in charging stations promotes reduced emissions and better air quality, while improving mobility and safety for the growing number of Floridians that drive electric cars,” explains the press release.

Does it seem to you that when it comes to EVs, DeSantis and his highway people are talking out of both sides of their mouths? Perhaps, like Billy Martin in the beer commercial used to say, they feel strongly BOTH ways.

Or perhaps what matters most to them is not where the money comes from, but who’s spending it.

Not so free after all

What cleared this up for me was a chat with Ryan McKinnon of the Charge Ahead Partnership.

The partnership maintains a low profile, but you’ve probably heard of some of its members: Wawa, Buc-ee’s, and Busy Bee. Their coalition, he said, “is made up of gas stations, convenience stores, and business owners who want to get into EV charging.”

They’re the ones who would benefit from Florida distributing that federal EV charger money. Their main issue, he told me, is “pushing back against utility ownership of EV charging stations.”

The problem, he said, is they “can’t compete when regulated utilities raise rates on all their customers to fund utility-owned and branded charging stations.”

He called this “a huge issue in Florida” because the utilities are so powerful. In fact, the nation’s largest utility-owned EV charging network belongs to <drumroll please> Florida Power & Light.

“FDOT’s website makes clear that Florida values the free market,” he told me. “Unfortunately, while sitting on [federal] funds that would help small businesses get their start in EV charging, the state has also allowed powerful electric utilities like Florida Power & Light to use ratepayer funds to build, own, and operate its own EV charging network, further discouraging free market competition.”

In other words, it’s not that Florida state government is battling the Evil Biden Green Agenda. It’s that the DeSantis administration is genuflecting toward Juno Beach, home of the almighty FPL. If they hand out those millions from the feds, Wawa might become a competitor to the utilities.

Hmmm, maybe the Florida DOT should take down those new signs. Doesn’t sound like we’re so “free” after all.

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