Area Plan Calls for Funding for Electric Vehicle Charging Grid
A plan by the Metropolitan Council of Governments to build an area-wide charging grid for electric vehicles will be revised now that the federal government has declined to provide the stimulus money they had been counting on.
The District of Columbia, College Park, Md., Alexandria and Falls Church, Va., along with Prince Georges, Montgomery, Arlington, Prince William, Fairfax and Loudon counties had joined with Nissan North America and AeroVironment, Inc., to bid on a portion of $125 million in electric-vehicle stimulus grants the federal government had made available as part of the overall economic stimulus package signed by the president early in the year. Their plan was to buy up to 1,000 Nissan all-electric cars and build an area wide charging grid to support them, all as part of their collective effort to green their respective vehicle fleets. The District of Columbia would have had the largest fleet, some 250 Nissan Leaf models to be delivered next year.
The Council of Governments has not given up on the plan, however, and is in talks with Nissan to explore other options. For its part, the District of Columbia expects to swap in new electric vehicles as part of its normal vehicle replacement activity.
Were still moving ahead full speed, but it just means we will have to kick in more than we would have, said District Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein.
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