Connecticut’s Department of Transportation is spending $5.4 million to add dozens of direct-current (DC) fast chargers for electric vehicles along major highways in the state.
The money comes from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, a federal initiative under the Biden administration to add more DC fast chargers to highways across the country. Connecticut received $52.5 million from the program.
The U.S. Department of Transportation suspended the program in February, citing the need to update the program to "align with current U.S. DOT policy and priorities."
The suspension led to a lawsuit against the federal government, filed by a coalition of 16 states and Washington D.C. A federal judge ruled in the states’ favor in June, causing the program to be re-instated in August.
"If Congress is requiring the federal government to support charging stations, let’s cut the waste and do it right," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a statement blaming the Biden administration for inefficiencies in rolling out the program.
"While I don’t agree with subsidizing green energy, we will respect Congress' will and make sure this program uses federal resources efficiently," the statement reads.
How fast can you charge your car in Connecticut?
Connecticut currently has 4,455 EV publicly available charging ports across the state, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s alternative fueling station locator.
More than 3,700 of those ports are Level 2 chargers, which can take 3-to-6 hours to fully charge a car, according to Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The DC fast charger has double the volts and can charge a car up to 50-80% in 30 minutes or less, making long road trips more doable. But there are far fewer of them available. In Connecticut, there are currently 740 fast charging ports.
Connecticut adds dozens of fast charging ports
The new DC fast charging ports will be installed in cities and towns along major highways, including Interstate 91, Interstate 84, Interstate 395 and Route 7. Four ports will be installed in Harford, Waterbury, Meriden, New Milford, Plainfield, Putnam and Willington for a total of 36 new ports across the state.
"It's not a huge number of ports, but whatever we can get is worth having," said Barry Kresch, president of the EV Club of Connecticut.
While most of these towns already have DC fast charging ports, or have them nearby, some of them are specific to Tesla, which may require a non-Tesla car to have an adaptor.
Kresch said he hopes the additional fast chargers will persuade more people to buy electric vehicles.
"Charging speed is one of the factors having to do with people's attitudes toward EV ownership. They don't want to be sitting there for an hour, right? You want to have people in and out in 20 or 25 minutes or less," Kresch said.
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member who covers the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public.
