In a move to make electric vehicle charging stations more available throughout Arizona, the state’s Department of Transportation has announced a project that will see the construction of 18 such facilities.
The project, according to Jennifer Toth, ADOT director, is designed to put in place a “network of reliable and convenient charging stations that the public can count on.”
One of the inspirations behind the project is an effort to reduce what Toth referenced as “range anxiety.”
Such anxiety, first mentioned in the San Diego Business Journal in 1997, centers on the fears of drivers on rural roads who feel that their vehicle may not have enough battery capacity or fuel to make it to the next city.
Range anxiety is thought to be the most prevalent when driving on throughways in the desert West.
To lessen the incidence of no electric charging stations in any section of Arizona, the new station construction effort will see facilities built along Interstate 10, which runs east to west across the southern part of the state; and Interstate 8, between Casa Grande and Yuma.
Station construction is planned off Interstate 40, which cuts east to west through the middle of the state; as well as Interstate 17, which heads north to south from Flagstaff to Phoenix.
Interstate 19, connecting Tucson with the Nogales at the southern end of the state, will also see new charging station work.
As planned, the new stations will be spaced no more than 50 miles apart.
Most of the funding to build the facilities is coming through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, under the auspices of the Federal Highway Administration.
Officials with the ADOT have indicated that plans are currently in the talking stage for the construction of additional charging stations that would likely go up state highways and roads in the next two years.
By Garry Boulard
Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay
