The Kentucky Electric Vehicle Charging Program has made great strides to make charging stations more accessible to the nearly 12,000 EV’s in the Commonwealth. However, a recent executive order may affect the development of any future sites.
Deputy state highway engineer, John Moore, said expanding accessibility for EV owners is important as the number of EV’s in the state is only increasing.
“Just as an overall update, we expect to see about 19,000 electric vehicles registered in Kentucky by the end of this year. Last year there was a 52% increase,” said Moore. “This year there was a little bit of a slowdown, only about 33% growth.”
The total amount of frozen funds totals over $32 million that was originally granted to make using an electric vehicle more efficient and accessible. Moore added the rescissions in electric vehicle funding will not affect the finances of any projects that have already been approved.
“Those funds are secure since they’ve been obligated and are not subject to reallocation. That being said, we do have $32.6 million that were allocated via the IHAA to Kentucky that are currently frozen until we can update our guidance accordingly,” said Moore.
The federal government should have an update on the frozen funds in the coming weeks. Advocates for EV’s hope they will be able to vastly increase the number of charging stations available for public use, especially in rural areas like eastern Kentucky.
Moore added out of the 47 sites, three are operational, two are under construction and the remainder are in various stages of development. Plans for two charging stations in Rowan County have been approved, and one site is under construction in the region. Officials said those projects are unaffected by the recent US Department of Transportation cuts in spending.