WSJ: "Charging Stations Multiply but Electric Cars are Few" Some of the comments are latching onto the subsidies issue of course. Most don't have a clue. I posted a few responses with the correct info.
Would you rather have charging stations roll out before the cars, or the cars roll out before the charging stations? Chargers first: bad "optics". People see stations sitting idle all the time. Cars first: bad for early adopters. Can't find places to charge their car. Of course driving a Tesla, I need chargers to be located on highways and in other cities; I wouldn't have much use for local charging infrastructure. Leaf drivers would need them. We recently got our very first Leaf here. It's a charging infrastructure wasteland here, so it will be interesting to talk with him about it (we were both invited to a "Science Cafe" event tonight).
Uh, yeah, that was exactly my point. Of course without highway infrastructure the local infrastructure (at the other end) isn't much use.
For the most part, I'd rather the cars roll out first. Plan for the charging stations, but scale their deployment with EV adoption. Also be ready to change those plans based on lessons learned. The exception perhaps being apartment buildings/condos and places of work. Charging stations at those places will help spur EV adoption. (A slow charger at Walmart does not.) There is no chicken and egg problem with EVs... It really does start with the cars and home charging. The rest should grow together.