Increasing demand for electric vehicle infrastructure has local leaders wanting to start the conversation about what that looks like locally.
East Tennessee Clean Fuel Commission Director Jonathan Overly said that’s why they hosted a Community Charging Planning Workshop to hear about what communities are looking for in the potential for charging stations in the Upper Cumberland.
“If you’re thinking about Spencer or Livingston or McMinnville or Cookeville, where will be good sites to put level 2 infrastructure,” Overly said. “And people can charge and will probably be there for multiple hours.”
Overly gives examples like the Cumberland County Playhouse or local gyms. He said that there are currently plans in the works to put stations at state parks like Cummins Falls and Burgess Falls.
Overly said that Drive Electric Tennessee is not just a few people, but 60 to 70 representatives of all kinds of organizations across the state working to remove barriers to EV adoption. He said that they have a goal of having 200,000 EVs on Tennessee roads by 2028.
“So there are several things going on in this workshop,” Overly said. “With corridors, TDOT is very interested in I-40 and the reason for that is there is a lot of funding coming out nationally. And the FHWA has come out and said that if you want this funding you must come up with a statewide plan (…) So part of the purpose of this meeting was to go ahead and at least get some people where we know these gaps are along I-40 in the Upper Cumberland about where these charging stations could go, because that funding is not far away.”
UCDD Transportation Planner Silas Stoddart said that the response to the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. He said that it was a great opportunity to sit down with everyone and gather information about the situation. Stoddart said that people have already corresponded wanting to know what the next step was to get the infrastructure to their community.
“I’m going to be pushing from the RPO to get communities that are along the corridor involved the first phase,” Stoddart said. “I want to see, from my perspective, the places Monterey, Tennessee, a little more rural communities, who could use more traffic and get a charging station on this first phase.”
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