When you drive an electric car, you have to charge it, but sometimes finding those charging stations can be hard. Drivers call that "range anxiety" and it's stopped some consumers from going electric. Now, the state is looking to change that. Earlier this month, it announced more than $135,000 in grants to assist in the construction of 56 new, publicly available charging stations.
Speaking outside the 2013 Connecticut International Auto Show, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty announced a new round of incentives, saying the focus now is on bring charging stations to the state's northeast and northwest corners.
"This next round is going to be targeted in part at ensuring that you are never more than 10 or 15 minutes from a charging station, wherever you are in the state of Connecticut, said Esty.
The grants will be available for businesses, colleges, and municipalities. Currently, Connecticut has around 100 publicly available charging stations. State officials say they hope the new charging units will be completed by April 2014.
MotorWeek's examination of the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is below:
