ChargePoint CEO expects more electric vehicle stations as use and EV sales keep growing

abcnews.go.com:

Sales growth of electric vehicles in the U.S. has started to slow, and polls show it’s due in part to anxiety over running out of battery power and too few charging stations

DETROIT — Sales growth of electric vehicles in the U.S. has started to slow, and polls show it's due in part to anxiety over running out of battery power and too few charging stations.

But Rick Wilmer, the new CEO of ChargePoint, an EV charging network, says the number of charging stations and plugs is increasing rapidly.

ChargePoint, based near San Jose, California, builds and maintains stations for businesses, apartment buildings and others who want them to attract customers.

Wilmer said in an interview with The Associated Press that ChargePoint is seeing increased use of its roughly 34,000 charging stations and experiencing growth that should rise as interest rates fall. His comments are edited for length and clarity.

A: I think EVs are a foregone conclusion. If you listen to senior executives from the automakers, even though there may be a nonlinear path to a future of all EVs, it’s pretty clear that most are beyond the tipping point. But I think these headwinds like the lack of enough chargers or charger reliability create the non-linearity as we move toward a fully electrified future.

Economic conditions, especially last year, also inhibited things. The concerns about charging in general maybe caused drivers to wait to convert to EVs. EVs are generally today more expensive than an internal combustion vehicle. And with high interest rates, car loans became a lot less affordable for people. I think they moved away maybe from an EV choice to a internal combustion choice just for cost reasons.

A: I think we will get there. In EV charging