CLEVELAND — There was lots of buzz Wednesday about the future of electric vehicles in Northeast Ohio.
The Ohio Department of Transportation held a public meeting about its plans to build 46 new EV charging stations across the state, but they first have to make sure they have the legal parts for this ambitious plan.
ODOT initiative DriveOhio told 3News that they're only allowed to build this EV infrastructure using American-made parts because that's the requirement of the $140 million dollars of funding they've gotten from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI).
Their intent is to greatly expand access and safety of driving EVs in the state.
DriveOhio Executive Director Preeti Choudhary said right now there are only 13 public charging stations that have four fast-charging ports.
By the end of 2026, they want to increase the number of stations by 46.
“For EV drivers today, we’re expanding their network of available charging,” Choudhary explained. “For folks that don’t drive an EV today, I think there’s a lot of fear around long-range travel, around traveling across the state or even to other states, and the funding that’s been put in place, this program that we’re building out is really set to build out chargers every 50 miles so that you don’t need to be afraid of long-range travel.”
DriveOhio reported they should be able to pull this off quite comfortably, but do admit getting those American-made parts isn't always easy.
"There is a little bit of a cost implication for ‘buy America’ compliant equipment,” Choudhary said. ”So what we found in our first round of procurement is the equipment is 10 to 20 percent more expensive with the new requirements around equipment. It does reduce the supply chain pool a bit by having these requirements. So we are all looking to a smaller pool to fulfill that."
She concluded that the public can expect construction to start on the first wave of 30 new charging stations around October, with some ready to use by next summer. Those will be built on interstates.
The second wave of 16 will be focused on U.S. and state routes.
DriveOhio said the new EV charging stations will be spread pretty evenly across highways in the state, each about 50 miles apart.
Meanwhile, Amazon gave 3News a look at their new fleet of custom electric delivery vehicles. The location in Warrensville Heights has been using 30 of the vehicles for a few months now.
They're designed by automaker Rivian to be sustainable and help Amazon fulfill its pledge to reach net-zero carbon across operations by 2040.
The electric delivery vehicles also have a 360-degree visibility system and fully integrated workflow software that eases the driver's routing, navigation, and driver support.
"It's been amazing so far,” said Operations Manager Sarah Ko. “A lot of the drivers have mentioned the pros of the vehicle with safety and comfort. Drivers have been complimenting that the vehicle is very quiet."
Ko joked that the vehicles are so quiet that drivers often don't even know if the vehicles are on or off until they confirm it on their central displays.
She said their operation plans to expand their fleet of EVs from 30 to 200 by the end of the year.
