The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) will host a virtual public hearing for one month starting Dec. 2 regarding Round 2 of a plan to place electric vehicle recharging stations in underserved parts of the state such as Gainesville and most of north Georgia.
The Federal NEVI Formula Program provides nearly $5 billion of federal funding nationally over five years. The allocations began two years ago. Georgia’s allotment from the program is $135 million to develop its portion of the national network of alternative fuel corridors (AFCs).
Georgia DOT intends to implement the program through several rounds of procurements with the goal of closing all Georgia AFC gaps, as identified in the Georgia Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan.
Those gaps include the I-985/Georgia 365/U.S. 23 corridor from the I-985/I-85 split near Suwanee through Habersham and Rabun counties and into North Carolina. Also included in northeast Georgia is the Georgia 515/I-575 corridor Rabun County to Cobb County.
Plans call for installing five stations in Hall County and one each in Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, Towns/Union (one joint location), and Gilmer counties
Parts of northeast Georgia, however, are already considered compliant. Included is the I-85 corridor from the 985/85 split to Commerce and almost to the Georgia/South Carolina state line and the U.S. 441 corridor from Athens to I-985.
Round two of the program includes 33 charging stations as identified in the Request for Proposals (RFP).
To participate in the virtual public hearing, log on to Georgia’s EV Infrastructure Deployment Plan under the “Executive Summary” section.