Partners celebrate opening of first EV fast charging station funded by Washington Electric Vehicle Charging Program

The Washington State Department of Commerce joined the Clean and Prosperous Institute, Seattle-based Electric Era and charging site developer Skycharger to celebrate the opening of the first EV fast charging station funded by the Washington Electric Vehicle Charging Program. The WAEVCP is the largest EV infrastructure program under the state’s Climate Commitment Act. The program is set to invest some $101 million to help develop 136 sites with 634 individual charging ports. Located at A1 Gas and Food off State Route 530, just west of Arlington, this EV charging station will serve drivers traveling between I-5 and the North Cascades. It features 8 charging ports, and uses onsite battery storage to buffer the power draw from the grid, helping to avoid high utility demand charges and to maximize the use of clean energy. As Charged readers know, reliability is a major issue for public charging stations. During a two-month soft launch period, the new charging station received a perfect 10.0 PlugScore on the PlugShare app, indicating that drivers can rely on the chargers being up and running (at least for now). “This charging station is a result of collaboration between Washington state, private industry and local leaders to solve real-world challenges,” said the state’s Commerce Director Joe Nguyen. “It’s about cleaner air, stronger communities, and creating a more reliable EV experience for Washington drivers.” Electric Era, Skycharger and the nonprofit Clean and Prosperous Institute worked closely with state and city officials to expedite approvals and complete installation in just 8 months—a pretty impressive time for such a project. “This project fills critical charging gaps and proves that collaboration accelerates the clean energy transition,” said Skycharger COO Johannes Copeland. “If companies and government entities are going to meet their carbon reduction targets through EV adoption, they need to streamline the process and work with their suppliers to get up and running as soon as possible,” said Kyler Schmidt, Chief Revenue Officer at Electric Era. Source: Washington State Department of Commerce

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