US public EV charging stations

As Bitcoin mining has consumed more electricity, EV charging stations have multiplied, a correlation of 0.975 that connects the most criticized energy consumer in technology to the most celebrated energy consumer in transportation with the kilowatt confidence of a chart that treats both as equivalent draws on the same grid. The Bitcoin miner burns electricity for digital scarcity, the EV charger burns electricity for physical mobility, and both numbers climb because the electrification of everything is the defining energy story of the decade.

Bitcoin mining grew from about 30 TWh to over 120 TWh between 2017 and 2022. EV chargers grew from about 50,000 to over 160,000. Both are six-year growth curves driven by the same electrification trend: as more activities move to electricity, total electrical demand grows in all categories. The irony is that Bitcoin mining and EV charging are both positioned as transformative technologies by their advocates and as energy waste by their critics.

Six years of Bitcoin mining and EV chargers is a correlation between two forms of electrification that represent opposite ends of the cultural spectrum: one celebrated as green, the other criticized as wasteful, both growing because the electrical grid is being asked to power an increasingly digital and electrified world. The miner hashes, the charger delivers, and the grid serves both without moral judgment.