One of the biggest complaints with driving an electric vehicle is there aren’t enough chargers for a long-distance trip. Ohio hopes to close the gap by installing DC chargers every 50 miles along its interstates.
Direct Current, or DC chargers (also called high-speed chargers) can feed electricity directly to the car’s battery and doesn’t need an onboard converter to convert it. It can charge 80% of the vehicle’s battery in less than 20 minutes.
They aren’t cheap. Each one can cost $10,000 to $40,000. Ohio and other states will use money from the massive federal infrastructure law. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program will establish a nationwide network of EV chargers.
Ohio will receive over $100 million across the next five years for DC Fast chargers.
DriveOhio’sLuke Stedke wants your input. “It’s more than just picking a spot on a map and putting a pin there," he says. "There are other criteria that we go through in mapping the plan." The goal is to install 30 in the first year.
Read about the plan here and submit comments here.
Listening sessions are scheduled all over the state. Southwest Ohio’s is first. It’s Thursday, July 14 at 10 a.m. at the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana-Regional Council of Governments (OKI), 720 E. Pete Rose Way, Suite 420, Cincinnati.
