Plugging In: Feds approve West Virginia electric vehicle charging station plans

(Graphic Illustration/MetroCreative)

CHARLESTON — The U.S. Division of Transportation authorised a plan submitted by West Virginia that may broaden the variety of electrical car charging stations over the subsequent 5 years
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg introduced Tuesday that his division authorised the plans for all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico for increasing electrical car charging station infrastructure by the Nationwide Electrical Automobile Infrastructure (NEVI) System Program.
NEVI was made doable by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act, handed final November. The bipartisan infrastructure invoice was made doable by negotiations between President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. The invoice was additionally supported by U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va.
“America led the unique automotive revolution within the final century, and right now, due to the historic sources within the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, we’re poised to steer within the twenty first century with electrical autos,” Buttigieg mentioned in a press release. “We now have authorised plans for all 50 States, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia to assist make sure that People in each a part of the nation — from the biggest cities to essentially the most rural communities–might be positioned to unlock the financial savings and advantages of electrical autos.”
The West Virginia Division of Transportation submitted its electrical car infrastructure deployment plan July 28, ready by Huntington-based engineering agency Kimley-Horn. Now that the plan has been authorised, state transportation officers plan to publish solicitations for part one of many various gasoline corridors (AFC) throughout late 2022 and early 2023, with first contracts being awarded this coming spring.
Part one of many state’s plan requires constructing electrical car charging stations each 50 miles alongside West Virginia’s main interstate highways, designating these highways as AFCs. Part two will concentrate on community-based electrical car charging stations. EV stations for part one could be situated in Wheeling, Parkersburg, Ripley, Charleston, Huntington, Beckley, Lewisburg, Bluefield, Flatwoods, Weston, Morgantown, and Martinsburg.
Possession of electrical autos in West Virginia elevated by greater than 341% in 5 years, from 235 EV registrations in 235 to 1,037 registrations in 2020 in accordance with the state Division of Transportation. However as of June, the state solely has 14 stations and 28 electrical car ports (a median of two ports per station), not counting Tesla ports which solely house owners of Teslas can use.
The bipartisan infrastructure invoice will present 80% of the funding for West Virginia’s EV infrastructure plan, with 20% coming from third-party distributors. Part 1 will value $16.8 million, with complete funding for the challenge over the subsequent 5 years coming to just about $48 million.
Steven Allen Adams might be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com