West Virginia is ranked 46th in the nation in electric vehicle (EV) registrations as of June 30, being ahead of North Dakota, Wyoming, and South Dakota.
Through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), electric vehicle deployment is planned for all 50 states, supported by more than $1.5 billion in funding to help build EV charging stations nationwide.
Roughly $45 million will be given to West Virginia in the span of five years, with 20% coming from non-state sources.
The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) estimates that approximately 900 public EV charging ports will be built. WVDOT released an overview of their plans in August.
The agency plans to accelerate "equitable adoption" of EV's, including those who cannot charge at home, and slash transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.
WVDOT is looking to contract third parties to develop the EV infrastructure.
The first phase of contracting will be choosing a third-party vendor(s) to add stations along alternative fuel corridors. The second phase will be picking vendors to implement the stations throughout West Virginia, according to WVDOT's plan.
Electric fuel corridors must have a spacing of 50 miles or fewer, so building out the federal program-required stations will take two fiscal years to complete according tot he agency.
WVDOT has listed proposed EV charging stations in Beckley (I-64), Charleston (I-64), Huntington )I-64), Morgantown (I-79), Parkersburg (I-77), Ripley (I-77), Princeton (I-77), Lewisburg (I-64), Flatwoods (I-79), Weston (I-79), Wheeling (I-70), and Martinsburg (I-81).
West Virginia's federal funding for 2022 is estimated to be around $6.76 million.
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Source: Herald-Dispatch.com
