BY SARAH BOGAARDS: The Biden administration’s approach to getting more electric vehicles on the road has many components, one of which is psychological. State and local governments were recently told to use $5 billion from the infrastructure bill to place EV charging stations about every 50 miles along designated stretches of national highways in more remote areas where drivers may be worried to take their EVs because of “range anxiety” over the distance to the next charging station. As this Wired article explains, consumers will buy vehicles for features they may not use frequently but because they might need them once in a while or someday in the future. People want a sense of certainty when traveling, and the hope is to quiet their qualms about EV charging when they seeing more charging stations available, even if they don’t have to stop. The end goal is 500,000 charging stations nationwide (the U.S. currently has 47,000) and that by getting more EVs on the road the trend will catch on. “Life is complex, and humans are very good at learning from each other,” said Thomas Dietz, a Michigan State University environmental sociologist. “So naturally, when something new comes along, part of our process is to see how people like us are reacting.”