Initial construction could begin later this year on an ambitious plan to build an electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout New Mexico.
The state is receiving around $38 million to be used over a five-year period in funding from the federal Department of Transportation.
In announcing the funding, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham remarked that “electric vehicles are a key part of reducing emissions in the transportation sector.”
The funding, the Governor continued, “will help ensure New Mexicans can charge up in convenient locations.”
Altogether, the Department of Transportation, working with the Energy Department, is making available some $5 billion in funding for the building of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.
That funding is being made available through the newly-established National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, whose mission is to build out an electric charging station network across the country.
Around $615 million will be available in fiscal year 2022 through the program, with the proviso that states first submit a detailed electric vehicle infrastructure deployment plan.
According to sources, there are currently around 250 electric charging stations up and running in New Mexico.
Advocates of building out the system note that the Land of Enchantment, the fifth largest state geographically in the country, making up just under 122,000 square miles, is particularly in need of more charging stations given the hundreds of miles between such cities as Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
By Garry Boulard
