Limited range is one factor keeping many people from switching to electric cars. That may ease as two cities in our region receive millions of dollars in funding to build new EV charging stations.
Thousands of charging sites are planned along specified “fueling corridors” in more than two dozen communities and on the lands of federally recognized Tribes.
That includes the city of Pueblo in Colorado, which will receive $11.5 million for 260 ports. In Las Vegas $3.2 million will pay for 185 electric ports at seven sites.
Joey Paskey is the Director of Public Works with the city of Las Vegas, who said these new stations will help lower-income residents – 98% of the funds are earmarked for “underserved” communities.
“We’re not only providing them access to these but it's also providing the benefits of clean energy infrastructure to these communities that really historically have borne a disproportionate burden of pollution,” said Paskey.
The locations of these chargers are strategically important. The EV charging ports will be near community centers, parks and residential areas where people may not have their own chargers.
“Eighty percent of EV charging takes place at home,” Paskey said. “Multi-family and low income households have historically had a barrier to this sort of installation that limits their access and this will help improve that.”
The majority of the funding in Pueblo is also aimed at providing equity, according to the data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Construction of the Las Vegas project is slated to begin in 2027.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
