The governors of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada have announced intentions to create an electric vehicle charging network on interstate highways throughout those three states.
Maria Eisemann is a transportation policy analyst for the Colorado Energy Office. She says most electric vehicle users return home to charge their cars at night. These stations would enable travel over greater distances.
"Instead of doing your typical day trips, if you wanted to do long-distance travel down an interstate, having these charging stations would eliminate that range anxiety," Eisemann says.
Interstates 70, 76, and 25 in Colorado are expected to be part of the network.
Michael McCauley directs the Colorado Springs Electric Vehicle Club, which he says has about 100 members. McCauley says the states should focus on level three chargers, which can fully charge an EV in less than 30 minutes.
"Electric vehicles need fast charging stations," McCauley says, "ones where you can pull in and in 15 to 20 minutes get enough power to go, to not top off your battery, but get it pretty full."
Level two or level one charging stations can take hours to charge an electric vehicle.
There's no timeline yet for when the stations will be installed. There are currently about 8,000 electric vehicles in the state, according to the governor's office.
