RENO, Nev. (AP) — The California Energy Commission has awarded a $200,000 grant to help develop a plan for the expansion of charging stations for electric vehicles around Lake Tahoe.

The commission recently approved the money for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to assess the current situation and identify both public and private locations where additional charging stations would best serve the public.

Karin Edwards, manager of the TRPA's sustainable communities program, says it's important to have a strategy to make electric vehicle travel convenient for local residents as well as visitors to the Truckee/Tahoe area.

She says it's also necessary to identify ways to make sure travelers from the San Francisco Bay Area can get the charges they need to make it to the lake.