(The Center Square) – Raleigh is the lone North Carolina recipient in another round, this time $635 million, of electric vehicle charging and alternative fueling infrastructure grants from the Biden administration and the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration program is providing more than $2.4 million to “deploy 56 EV charging ports across the city. The project will prioritize serving multifamily residents and the city’s fleet, with 66% of funds directed to disadvantaged communities,” a release from the DOT says.
“The Biden administration has made historic investments to support the EV transition and make sure it’s made in America,” said Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of the Transportation Department. “These investments will help states and communities build out a network of EV chargers in the coming years so that one day, finding a charge on a road trip will be as easy as filling up at a gas station.”
According to the DOT website, direct current fast charging equipment can charge a battery electric vehicle to 80% in “just 20 minutes to one hour.”
North Carolina, according to the latest data available, has less than 120,000 zero emission vehicle registrations and more than 8 million for combustion engines. Former Gov. Roy Cooper, in 2022, upped a 2018 goal for zero emission vehicles to 1.25 million by 2030.
To achieve it, the state would need to add 1,135,000 in 60 months – a pace of just under 19,000 a month. The state added about 20,000 in the nine months between October 2023 and June of last year.
