by Dave Williams | Jul 21, 2022 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – The Federal Highway Administration has designated two Georgia highways as “alternative fuel corridors” for the purpose of facilitating the construction of electric vehicle charging stations.
U.S. 441 from Cornelia in Northeast Georgia south to Dublin and U.S. 82 from Brunswick west to Albany will add 25%, or approximately 330 miles, to the state’s EV charging network.
“Convenient access to electric vehicle charging stations is critical to innovating and expanding Georgia’s transportation network,” state Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry said Thursday.
“These federal designations are important because they signify Georgia’s commitment to alternative fuel options in every part of the state.”
The two highways were selected based on such factors as their location near major job clusters, access to tourism sites, the high share of EV sales in nearby counties, and their proximity to hurricane evacuation routes.
The designations also are expected to enhance Georgia’s chances of landing federal funds from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure spending bill Congress passed last fall. The legislation earmarked $5 billion in grants to support EV charging stations.
The Georgia Department of Transportation announced last week that it is working with Chicago-based commercial real estate company JLL to plan a network of EV charging stations around the state.
About 30,000 electric vehicles are on Georgia roads today being serviced by more than 1,300 publicly available charging stations with an estimated 3,400 individual outlets.
A legislative study committee created by the General Assembly during this year’s session is expected to begin working soon toward developing a plan for expanding the supply of EV charging stations.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Proximity to hurricane evacuation routes? That brings up a good question.
If a hurricane or some other major storm or calamity comes through the area, what good are these charging stations if there is a prolonged power outage? Yes, same can be said for gas stations without power, but you can still get more mileage on a tank of gas than a battery. And there are ways of siphoning gas from one vehicle to another if you’re in a bad pinch.
Interesting.
Am I wrong on this?
Sounds pretty right on to me. If memory is serving me correctly, I believe the lack of electricity is a major issue during/after hurricanes.
While you are on point about the loss of electricity, I would anticipate these people would have evacuated out ahead of the hurricane, before the loss of power. If they didn’t, shame on them.
The first commercial gasoline station opened in Pittsburgh, PA in December 1913 by the Gulf Refining Co., a private sector corporation. Although the federal government subsidizes all sectors of energy production, I can’t find any references that indicate they provided direct subsidies for the construction of gas stations. This is just another move toward communist socialism wherein the government controls industrial and agricultural output, medical care, education, housing, employment, and the media. Capitalism will be dead soon at the hands of the government-corporate Bolsheviks.
Your post reminds me of a news-video I saw the other day…and no, it wasn’t on any of our liberal local news channels.
Seems this store owner…and I didn’t catch if he was a convenience store owner or a gas station owner…was shutting down the Tesla power station stands because Tesla had not paid the man for the electricity used there in months. A customer was there, practically begging the owner to allow him to use one because he was extremely low on power and may not make the next station.
I’m quite sure there is a lot of info to be considered but I’m not sold on this yet.