HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced more than $900,000 in grant funding for project expanding electric vehicle use statewide. The projects will install 16 fast chargers in high-traffic areas.
The DEP Driving PA Forward program announced $936,619 in grant funding to four projects that will install the fast chargers in high-traffic locations that serve both local and longer distance drivers.
The funding comes from the states’s share of the national settlement with Volkswagen Group of America for cheating on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions tests.
Projects
DEP awarded $750,000 to EVgo Services for three projects, each funded at $250,000:
- Four fast-charging plugs at Sheetz gas station at 9002 University Boulevard, Moon Township, in Allegheny County. This site is less than a mile from the Pittsburgh International Airport, less than half a mile from Interstate 376 Business and less than four miles from Interstate 376.
- Six fast-charging plugs at Cedar Realty Trust, Quartermaster Plaza, 2300 West Oregon Avenue, Philadelphia. This site is within a half-mile of Interstate 76 and three miles of Interstate 95.
- Four fast-charging plugs at Albertsons Acme Market, 124 Morton Avenue, Ridley Township, in Delaware County. This location is within two miles of Interstate 95 and Interstate 476.
DEP awarded EVBuild, Inc. $186,619 for a project to install two fast-charging plugs in a mall parking lot at 100 N.W. End Boulevard, Quakertown Borough, in Bucks County. This site is within four miles of Interstate 476 and located along high-traffic Route 309.
The projects will also be additional stops in a network of highway segments that DEP and PennDOT are helping to develop into electric vehicle corridors for longer distance drivers. These corridors will eventually have chargers located every 50 miles along the highway and no more than five miles from the road. Interstates 76, 95, 376 and 476 are part of this network.
Since its launch two years ago, Driving PA Forward has funded 40 fast chargers and more than 1,300 level 2 chargers that have been installed or are in development by companies, local governments and organizations around the state.
Rule change
Under Gov. Tom Wolf’s direction, the Pennsylvania DEP Bureau of Air Quality has begun drafting a proposed rulemaking that would amend the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program to establish a requirement for automakers to include light-duty electric vehicles as a percentage of their model offerings.
The proposed amendment would make Pennsylvania the ninth state in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions to adopt a new light-duty zero emissions vehicle percentage requirement for automakers. The rule revision would help ensure that automakers offer for sale in Pennsylvania new zero emissions electric vehicle models that otherwise would be offered in surrounding states that have a requirement.
The Bureau of Air Quality has begun rule and program development and anticipates presenting the proposed rule for consideration to the Environmental Quality Board in the fall.
