On April 26, Maine commissioned the seventh and last of its first phase of electric vehicle (“EV”) charger installations in a campaign that will see a network of these facilities installed by the state in strategic locations. This particular phase of charging units installed was mainly targeting busy routes that take travelers to winter ski resorts as well as highways that move motorists across state lines.
These supercharger stations have the capacity to add approximately 250 miles worth of charge to a vehicle’s battery within an hour. Costing approximately $200,000 each, the charging stations don’t come cheap.
However, Maine is financing the installation of these facilities with the $3 million it got as its share from money paid by Volkswagen in an earlier settlement. Remaining funds will be used to pay for the second phase of installing fast chargers, and the winning bids are expected to be unveiled before May 12.
The construction of the super chargers is being overseen by Efficiency Maine, a state entity created to implement Maine’s program to ease the transition to electric vehicles. This agency has so far helped to source funding for the construction of what it calls level 2 chargers. These 375 “community” chargers installed so far are slower since they can only add a maximum of 35 miles worth of charge to a battery. The community chargers were installed for the benefit of residents who are in no hurry and can leave their vehicles charging for longer periods of time.
Currently, Maine is host to between 4,000 and 5,000 electric vehicles, but Governor Janet T. Mills has an ambitious plan to see this number grow to 41,000 by 2025 and then ramp up to 219,000 as 2030 rolls in.
Part of the Volkswagen money is going into a rebate program to encourage Maine residents to make the switch to electric vehicles. At the moment, residents who opt to buy an EV that qualifies can receive up to $2,000 as a state rebate; when this is added to the federal incentive, prospective buyers can see the initial cost of their EV lowered by an additional $7,500.
The current system of fast chargers being installed is aimed at addressing another of the barriers to EV adoption: range anxiety. This is a motorist’s fear of being stuck “in the middle of nowhere” with a drained battery. The chargers are intended to reassure such motorists that facilities are available to top up the charge on their vehicle’s battery.
Luckily for Maine, its plan to switch to electric vehicles is being mirrored in different ways at both the national and international level. For example, the current federal administration hopes to invest approximately $15 billion into establishing a network of charging stations across the country.
With companies such as Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX) looking to make major investments in the EV sector, it is highly likely that the transition to cleaner forms of travel will be possible in the United States and other jurisdictions.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Ideanomics Inc. (NASDAQ: IDEX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/IDEX
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