The White House announced a sweeping plan to expand the number of charging stations for electric vehicles in the United States today, as first reported by Reuters. The Obama administration detailed how it will establish 48 new “charging corridors” that span nearly 25,000 miles of major highways across 35 states. EV charging stations will be available about every 50 miles along these routes, and most of them will be installed in 2017, though a total target number was not given.
As a part of the plan, the US Department of Energy will also conduct two studies concerning the expansion of EV charging stations. One will determine the best ways to deploy charging stations at a national level, and the other will help outline “best practices” for installing faster charging stations, which cut charging time dramatically compared to the more common “Level 1” and “Level 2” chargers. The announcements are a result of the groundwork laid this summer at the Department of Energy’s first ever Sustainable Transportation Summit, which involved a $4.5 billion loan program meant to encourage electric vehicle adoption.