Finding a place to juice up electric vehicles in metro Atlanta should be easier in the near future.
The Atlanta Regional Commission has received a $6.1-million federal grant to install between 300 and 400 EV charging ports across metro Atlanta in coming months, officials announced today.
In an effort to boost equity and greener infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Transportation grant funding will be used to focus on areas where EV charging is scarce today across a 20-county region, according to the ARC.
All of the EV ports will offer what’s referred to as Level 2 charging—for free.
Today, roughly 1,800 to 2,000 Level 2 EV charging stations are dotted around metro Atlanta for public use, per ARC estimates. That charging infrastructure, for now, is clustered in more affluent and densely developed sections of the metro, according to John Orr, ARC managing director of transportation planning.
The funds are being sourced through the Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.
The first round of new EV ports is expected to be installed within the next year to 18 months.
The Level 2 class of charging ports takes four to 10 hours to charge an EV battery from empty to 80 percent full. The 240V or 208V ports it uses are common in public, workplace, and home charging, according to ARC officials.
The ARC plans to partner with a private company to install and maintain each of the hundreds of new charging options.
“As a region, we must prepare for the EV revolution that we know is coming, in a way that ensures no community is left behind,” Anna Roach, Atlanta Regional Commission executive director and CEO, said in the funding announcement. “We’re grateful that the U.S. Department of Transportation chose to invest in the Atlanta region’s future."
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