Rocky Mountain Power has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop 1,500 miles of electric highway corridors along I-15, I-80, I-70 and I-84. The money is to be used to install electric car charging stations throughout Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, as well as to help develop innovative smart mobility programs to encourage electric car-sharing and advance the use of electric bikes and buses to further emission-free transportation.
The grant’s target is to double the number of electric vehicles in the region to more than 50,000 cars in the next 10 years, according to a release from the utility. This would result in the annual reduction of 251 million pounds of CO2 emissions and save 24.9 million gallons of gasoline, the company said.
“Our goal is to have enough charging stations to help electric vehicles go from Disneyland to Yellowstone and everywhere in- between,” said Cindy A. Crane, Rocky Mountain Power president and CEO. “This initiative makes Utah a leader in the nation for electric transportation.”
The grant will be used to do the following:
• Build DC fast chargers every 100 miles along the corridors and AC Level 2 chargers in every major community in the region.
• Offer incentives for employers to install charging stations at their places of work.
• Help businesses purchase 200 electric vehicles and more than 13,800 electric rental vehicles.
• Evaluate the impact of the charging stations on the electric grid.
• Build community partnerships to develop smart mobility programs to use technology, collect data and develop best practices to meet long-term transportation plans.
Rocky Mountain Power and project partners were selected through a highly competitive process against hundreds of proposals from across the country. The project partners include the Utah Office of Energy Development, University of Utah, Utah State University, Salt Lake City, Utah Clean Cities Coalition, Breathe Utah, Idaho National Laboratory and others.
“Through unprecedented partnerships, Utah has driven its legacy as the Crossroads of the West to become a new national hub for electric vehicle innovation,” said Laura Nelson, theh governor’s energy advisor and executive director of the Governor’s Office of Energy Development. “We look forward to accelerating our electric vehicle infrastructure to support our growing needs along the Wasatch Front, as well as to provide access to Utah’s ‘Mighty 5’ national parks and other unrivaled recreation destinations.”
The grant was made possible because of Utah’s Sustainable Transportation and Energy Plan (STEP). The Utah Public Service Commission approved the plan in December to provide $2 million in funding each year to provide incentives for electric vehicle charging stations. The incentives are part of a larger five-year pilot program authorized by the Utah Legislature last March for STEP.
“More electric vehicles on the road means fewer emissions in the air,’ said Rep. V. Lowry Snow, R-St. George, Utah House sponsor of STEP. “These incentives will mean more chargers and less range anxiety for motorists who want to purchase an electric vehicle.”
“STEP is win-win-win legislation because it helps improve the air and economy without raising taxes or hiking electricity prices,” said Sen. J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, the Senate sponsor of STEP.
“Vehicles contribute about half of the emissions during winter inversions,” said Alan Matheson, Utah Department of Environmental Quality executive director. “Therefore, replacing our fleet with low- or no-emission vehicles is a critical strategy to clean our air. This electric vehicle initiative is an important step toward that goal.”
The final numbers are not in but the trade magazine Inside EVs reports electric vehicle sales reached more than 153,000 in 2016 — up more than 32 percent from the previous year. Total electric vehicle sales since 2010 has reached more than 560,000.