The US Department of Energy (DOE) is making a big investment in electric cars nationwide. The investment is part of DOE’s Clean Cities initiative which is supporting the growth of energy efficient and renewable energy measures in America’s cities. Awards were given to 16 electric vehicle projects in 24 states and Washington DC.
The projects that were awarded funds are focused on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and providing job training to individuals and college students to design and build EVs.
Through the awards, $8.5 million will go to providing additional electric vehicle charging stations and fostering public-private partnerships to deploy EVs throughout the nation. The funding recipients range from communities with extensive EV planning experience to those that are eager to begin, but have not previously had the resources to do so. Most projects awarded in this round of funding are one-year start up projects focused on creating the ideal conditions for EV deployments such as revised permitting, charging station construction and training municipal personnel.
“By developing the next generation of automotive engineers and preparing communities for plug-in electric vehicles, these projects will help reduce our nation’s dependence on oil imports, create jobs, and help America capture the growing global market for advanced vehicles,” said Department of Energy Secretary Chu.
Individuals interested in learning about where they can purchase or charge electric vehicles in their state can visit the map on the DOE website which highlights all of the clean cities funding sites so far. The effort from DOE supports other electric vehicle initiatives already moving forward in several states. So far, these initiatives been supported in larger cities – the DOE funds will help foster growth in smaller cities, adding continuity to the budding national EV infrastructure.
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