Photo by: Fee Vote
The future electric vehicle charging station at the Pilot Travel Center in Morristown is taking shape and will open soon.
The Pilot Travel Center in Morristown will soon be one of the first of many locations to provide electric vehicle charging stations along Ohio’s interstates, state routes and U.S. routes.
Funding for the stations came from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which is administered by a division of the Ohio Department of Transportation called DriveOhio. The state has pledged about $16 million in funding to install 45 new charging stations to accommodate the increasing number of electric vehicles in the Buckeye State.
“The $16 million in NEVI funding will be matched by more than $4 million from the private companies selected to install and operate the new electric vehicle charging stations, including Electric Era, Francis Energy Charging, Jule, Love’s Travel Stops, Meijer, Red E Charging, Sheetz, Tesla and United Dairy Farmers. The winning proposals include plans for locations in existing shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and a bowling alley,” Governor Mike DeWine said in a press release.
The inclusion of the local Pilot Travel Center is part of the first round of a two-phase initiative to deploy charging stations across most of Ohio.
“As more electric cars and trucks hit Ohio’s roadways, we continue to build out the infrastructure needed to make travel easy and convenient,” DeWine said.
DeWine announced the first round of the NEVI program in July 2023, followed by a statewide groundbreaking the following October. The second round of the program is scheduled to begin in late 2024 or 2025.
The chargers installed by the government are fast chargers, unlike the chargers you would see in places like hotels or restaurants. The fast charges only take about half an hour.
“It takes a little longer than a gas stop, but it’s not the same as a low-voltage charger that takes several hours or even overnight to charge your vehicle,” said DeWine’s press secretary Dan Tierney.
The goal of the program is to enable travelers and Ohio residents to easily drive their electric vehicles in Ohio without fear of not being able to find a charger.
“When you talk about economic development, you often hear statistics like: Ohio is a day’s drive from more than half the country and a significant portion of Canada. That kind of infrastructure certainly helps the travel and tourism sector because people know they can come to Ohio with their electric vehicle…” Tierney added. “It provides more opportunities for our citizens, but it certainly helps our economy in general as well. As technology advances, we’re going to see more and more vehicles going electric. So if a company wants to have an electric fleet of transportation vehicles and they want to send them from New York to Chicago or Cleveland to Pittsburgh, they need that kind of infrastructure where Ohio is halfway through those stops and they know they can charge in Ohio. With that comes usually some convenient stops where you can grab a meal or a drink while you wait for your vehicle to charge.”
Tierney believes Ohio has been relatively aggressive compared to the other 49 states in building the charging station infrastructure needed to complement electric vehicles.
“One of the obstacles to adopting electric vehicles if people want to use them is making sure there’s a charger along the way that can extend the range of the trip,” Tierney said. “It’s very exciting for Ohio to be a leader here because it gives people choices in how they travel or what vehicles they want to buy.”
Although there is no official launch date yet, the goal is to have the electric vehicle charging stations at the Pilot Travel Center operational by the end of the summer.
