A $1.44 million federal grant will enable North Dakota to install additional electric vehicle charging stations and give the state more flexibility in where they’re placed.
The specific sites are still being determined but are likely to be away from the two interstate corridors in North Dakota. The state Department of Transportation applied for the grant in August 2021, according to Deputy Director for Planning Jen Turnbow.
That was before the state was awarded $25.9 million from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program in June. That funding was through the federal infrastructure bill that Congress passed last fall. That program calls for the installation of fast-charging stations along Interstates 94 and 29. The $ 1.44 million “could allow for more flexibility in statewide EV charging locations instead of top priority,” he said. Turnbow.
North Dakota will receive $ 25.9 million in fiscal year 2026. Phase one will build separate chargers no more than 50 miles and less than a mile from exits along interstate highways.
“It is hard to place a number on how many charging stations we will be able to install, for there are many different factors that will impact the amount it will cost to install chargers at any given location,” DOT spokesman David Finley said. The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan that North Dakota was required to create to get the $25.9 million is at website.
The state is getting the $1.44 million through the Federal Highway Administration’s Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment grant program, which aims to help install 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations nationwide by 2030. Federal officials in announcing the grant said it is to help install “additional charging stations to fill in gaps and reduce EV owner range anxiety.”
