The Delaware Department of Transportation is seeking requests for proposals for the state’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Plan.
The NEVI program will provide a total of $17.5 million to Delaware over a five-year period to deploy fast electric vehicle charging stations along highways.
The goal of NEVI, part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is to locate half a million new charging stations along major travel routes.
Delaware’s NEVI plan provides a framework to develop a network of EV charging stations along the major travel corridors of Route 13, Route 113, Route 1, and Interstate 95, with the charging stations within one mile of these roads with no more than 50 miles between each location. There are currently more than 10,000 electric vehicles registered in the state.
The most visible charging stations are Tesla’s Superchargers, often located at Wawa locations. Tesla has reached agreements with GM and Ford that would allow their vehicles to use the stations.
The lack of chargers has been cited by opponents of mandates that would require 80% of new cars vehicles to be all-electric, with the remainder plug-in hybrids. There have been reports of shortages of chargers
“As our state continues the work of implementing our Climate Action Plan, reducing vehicle greenhouse emissions is a key factor in our efforts to address climate change,” said Gov. John Carney. “Building a network of charging stations across the state will help us make electric vehicle usage more accessible.”
The selected vendors will be responsible for installing new direct-current (DC) fast-charging stations and their operation along these corridors.
Proposals will be accepted until 2 p.m. on Thursday, September 14. Bid details are available here.
