This story is part of The Salt Lake Tribune’s ongoing commitment to identify solutions to Utah’s biggest challenges through the work of the Innovation Lab.
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The Utah Department of Transportation Tuesday announced the companies that have been awarded contracts to build fast-charging stations for electric vehicles around the state, and two companies will operate most of them.
Rocky Mountain Power, Utah’s largest electricity provider, will operate seven of the 15 stations. C-store giant Maverik will run another four of them, and Utah.Energy, a Utah-based energy-management company will operate two. One will be run by Pilot Flying J in Snowville, and the one in Nephi will be operated by EV giant Tesla.
The rollout is funded by the National Electric Vehicle Initiative (NEVI), a federal program that is paying for fast-charging stations at least every 50 miles on major highways across the country. UDOT administers the program in Utah, but no state tax money goes to funding the stations. All of the participating companies must cover at least 20% of the cost, while NEVI picks up the rest. All of the stations are expected to be operating by the end of next year.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
UDOT received 75 applications for the 15 sites. UDOT Strategic Investments Director Lyle McMillan said the state had a “cross-disciplinary scoring team” that ranked the applicants on several criteria, including their ability to meet the timetable, the ability to get sufficient power to run four 150-kilovolt chargers and the ability to meet the “Buy America” requirements of the equipment used.
He also said they looked at the associated amenities at the stations. “Are there 24/7 bathrooms? Is there something to do while charging? Is it a safe environment?”
He said many states have been using state tax money in addition to the federal NEVI money to build out their networks, but Utah instead relied on the private partners to provide the non-federal funding. Overall, the private companies are providing 44% of the cost of these first stations, which will stretch Utah’s NEVI dollars further when subsequent rounds add chargers to smaller highways.
The 15 stations will all be DC fast-charging stations, which can charge car batteries much faster than the “level 2″ chargers typically found at homes and businesses with chargers. Depending on the car, DC charging can add 3 to 20 miles of range for every minute of charging, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
McMillan said the companies can set the rates they charge such that they make a small profit, but federal regulations are intended to prevent price gouging.
In the case of the seven Rocky Mountain Power stations, RMP has already negotiated its rates through the state’s Public Service Commission. Because the company is subsidizing the stations, all RMP customers will be able to charge at a lower rate at those seven stations than non-RMP customers. Earlier this year, RMP announced its own network of 20 stations, which will include the seven stations announced by UDOT. All the RMP stations will have a discounted rate for RMP customers.
Tesla also operates its own network of charging stations, some of which are made available to non-Tesla drivers. The Nephi Tesla station will be available to all EVs, McMillan said.
