CLEVELAND — Even as national leaders look to cut back or dismiss mandates on electric vehicle (EV) production, Ohio continues to expand its footprint when it comes to EV infrastructure.
The state is in the middle of a five-year program, funded with $140 million from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which will help add more chargers across the state.
“Building a statewide network of chargers will enable EV travel and bring more visitors to Ohio,” Governor Mike DeWine said in July 2023 while announcing the first locations as part of that program.
The growth comes as President-elect Trump has largely condemned electric vehicles, saying they have been forced upon drivers.
“In terms of EV mandates, they need to be gone first thing in January,” Ohio Senator-elect Bernie Moreno said during his election acceptance speech in November. “We are going to dictate at the federal level and we are going to allow consumers to pick the kind of car they want.”
Right now, 20 states offer some sort of incentive to buy a new or used EV or even set up a home charging station.
Ohio is not one of them.
In fact, if you buy an all-electric vehicle in Ohio, you face an additional $200 fee each time you register and renew your vehicle.
Lawmakers set that up several years ago since hybrids and electric cars don’t require the same trips to the gas station, and the gas tax is the main way the state pays for road maintenance.
“There is an argument on both sides,” explained Grace Gallucci, executive director and CEO at the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency (NOACA). “We ought to look at everyone paying their fair share for utilizing the road network throughout the state. On the other hand, you want to encourage EVs because of the impact on air quality. So you could look at it as maybe the fees should be lowered or removed altogether?”
The transportation and environmental nonprofit NOACA is using state and federal dollarsto add more than 100 EV charging stations along popular roadways over the next several years.
“I think Ohio is still in catch up mode but we are making significant progress,” Gallucci said. “In order to be competitive, we need to have a modern infrastructure. And part of the modern infrastructure is more EV charging stations.”
Jose Ramos and his team at Alternalite, an electrical contractor specializing in EV charging installations, are helping install dozens of chargers as part of the effort to eliminate charging deserts and catch up with the market. Right now, he says more than 50% of their business is EV installations.
“[Ohio is] kind of behind the 8-ball,” he said. “It’s definitely not there. We have a ways to go to make EV drivers feel comfortable enough to purchasing an EV.”
But that didn’t stop Brandon Andrew from making the switch, who purchased his first EV two months ago.
He’s now learning the lifestyle of owning an EV, balancing battery power and where he needs to go.
“It’s a little bit of a challenge which is kind of fun to think about differently,” he said. “I have to be a lot more forward thinking. I have to know ahead of time if there’s chargers in certain places and what my battery is currently at.”
For Andrew, he’s done the math and still expects to save more by not buying gas. As far as the debate goes, he doesn’t see the differences the way others do.
“The car feels like a car,” Andrew said. “It’s not like something like from the Moon. If you’ve driven a car, it’s going to drive like a car. You can say these are fundamentally different – They’re not. They just draw their power from different places.”
Ohio ranks 17th in the nation when it comes to registered EVs on the road, with more than 50,000 registered EV vehicles.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard, on Facebook Clay LePard News 5 or email him at Clay.LePard@WEWS.com.
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