State Transportation is looking for partners to build and maintain electric vehicle charging stations. DOTD Chief Maintenance Engineer Kevin Reed said 80 percent of the charging station costs are funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the potential businesses will fund the remaining 20 percent.
“We’d like to get these funds out to them to build these stations and own and operate them. DOTD does not want to be in the business of owning and operating but we want to get the money out and partner with someone to set these sites up,” said Reed.
Louisiana is receiving $73 million from the IIJA. Reed said he expects to see more charging stations as a result of the grant program in Louisiana around this time next year.
Reed said an example of a business that would be interested in being part of the private-public partnership would be a truck stop or a gas station that has the infrastructure and wants to add EV charging stations.
“You might also have some convenience stores or something with some amenities that’s already got a good location along our alternative fuel corridor. And those would probably be the most likely people to put in for these grants,” said Reed.
Cost estimates for the charging stations per site range from $750,000 to a million. Reed said it takes a lot of utility upgrades in some cases for the extremely robust charging stations. Unlike plugging your car into a socket in your garage and charging your vehicle for 12 hours…
“Well, these stations are set up so that they can charge 80% battery in 15 to 20 minutes,” said Reed.
Currently in Louisiana, Reed said there’s not a large presence of EV charging stations, but the purpose of the grant is to build a national network of them to encourage more individuals to purchase alternative fuel vehicles.
For more information for those businesses who are interested in applying for the grants visit DOTD.la.gov
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