PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Millions of dollars in federally-funded grants will flow into the Philadelphia area to build hundreds of electric vehicle charging stations across the region.<\/p>\n
PennDOT announced $37 million in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure grants Wednesday to create 500 new EV charging ports in the five-county region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means chargers near your home, your grocery store, your doctor’s office, your places of worship,\u201d PennDOT secretary Mike Carroll said, as he stood in front of a bank of EV chargers in North Philadelphia, \u201ctruly locations in communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Right now most of Philadelphia’s chargers are in Center City, but officials said the grants to governments and businesses would expand access and help make EV charging as accessible as gas stations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe average gas station is about a half mile away from peoples’ houses,\u201d said Chris Puchalsky, director of policy and strategic initiatives for the city\u2019s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS). \u201cThe average EV charger that’s publicly accessible is over three times as far away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chargers could also ease the transition for drivers looking to make the switch to electric vehicles, incentivizing those who are considering the eco-friendly switch. That amounts to something of a \u201cchicken or the egg\u201d problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you wait for people to have the cars and then figure out where they need to charge,\u201d asked Ariella Maron, executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, \u201cor do you put the charging in place and then hope people get the cars?\u201d<\/p>\n
PennDOT hopes the charging ports can be under construction in 2027.<\/p>\n