Imagine if you could take a road trip across the entire continental US in an electric vehicle without worrying about getting stuck without a charging station. This is the goal of the newly formed Electric Highway Coalition, a collaboration between six big regional utilities that aim to make charging stations more accessible on highways across the country.
The utilities involved are American Electric Power, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Entergy, Southern Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority. Together, they plan to build a network of charging and service stations for electric vehicles that stretches across 16 states on highways from Texas to Florida up to Virginia and over to Indiana.
The coalition has yet to provide details on the exact locations of the charging stations and how many they plan to install, but the proposed charging technology would be able to charge vehicles in as little as 30 minutes.
The concept of an energy utility coalition to expand EV charging access isn’t new, but most of them are located on the West Coast and in the Northeast. This initiative is the first to tackle widespread charging station availability in the South and Southeast.
The participation of energy utilities in EV access is a big step because it speeds up the rollout of charging stations and puts more monetary support behind the transition to EVs. Obviously, the utilities also have a financial incentive to expand EV charging stations as they are the ones providing the electricity, but nonetheless, this is a great example of a cross-sector partnership to achieve a greener future.
