In “Take the EV charging station survey”, we presented the opportunity for the public to participate in a survey about EV charging stations. But as Questions loom as Virginia develops electric vehicle plan points out,
the guidance has made clear that the ideal recipients of these funds are the existing gas stations and convenience stores that line every interstate exit in the commonwealth. However, under current regulatory policy, it’s difficult for any of those gas stations to get into the EV charging business without operating at a loss.
An additioinal challenge, of course, is that much of Virginia is rural and this round of funding and infrastructure-building does nothing to support areas without interstate highways. As journalist Anna Bryson writes in the Richmond Times-Dispatch article, however,
A VDOT spokesperson said the initial plan will be focused on building public direct current fast chargers on the federally designated alternative fuel corridors in order to meet federal requirements, while also supporting charging in rural and disadvantaged communities.
VDOT's commitment to rural and disadvantaged communities is important. So let's do our part and participate in the survey. Bryson did, after all, report that VDOT has received fewer than 1,000 survey responses.
Take the EV charging station survey.
Image: electric-charge-road-sign-sign by paulbr75 on Pixabay