Amid a major federal investment in electric cars, it’s time for states to step up, advocates say

For years, electric vehicles posed something of a chicken-and-egg problem. Mass adoption, seen as critical to cutting the largest single source of U.S. carbon emissions, couldn’t happen until the infrastructure to allow drivers to recharge wherever they were heading was in place. And those charging stations weren’t coming until more drivers switched to plug-in electric vehicles. That’s one of the reasons why growth in electric vehicle sales was sluggish for much of the past decade, industry experts say. Times are changing, however. The commercials for electric versions of their best-selling trucks blanketing airwaves show major U.S. automakers like Ford and Chevrolet are jumping with both feet into the EV market, vying with the likes of start-ups like Rivian for a share of the lucrative pickup market. And far from offering a single electric model here or there, many automakers plan to go mostly electric over the next two decades.