Dept. of Transportation OKs EV charging plans for all 50 states

The US Department of Transportation said it has given the go-ahead for all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico to begin building electric vehicle charging stations across roughly 75,000 miles of highways.

“We have approved plans for all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to help ensure that Americans in every part of the country – from the largest cities to the most rural communities – can be positioned to unlock the savings and benefits of electric vehicles,” said Pete Buttigieg, US Transportation Secretary.

The funding for the EV chargers comes from the bipartisan infrastructure package, passed earlier this year by the Biden administration, and provides $5 billion to states to fund EV chargers over five years along interstate highways. The plan stipulates that states will provide their own EV infrastructure deployment plans to the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation for approval.

States now have the green light to begin construction on a network of charging stations along designated fuel corridors on the national highway system. More than $1.5 billion in funding is available for the project. It’s unclear how many EV charging stations that amount of money will provide, but the White House aims for a national network of 500,000 charging stations by 2030.

Although states have not specified where the charging locations will be, officials from the Department of Transportation have said that stations should be installed every 50 miles and must be located within one mile of an interstate highway.

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