In a further example of American states staking out an independent course from the country’s avidly pro-fossil federal government, the governors of seven mostly thinly-populated mountain states have thrown their administrations behind the creation of an “electric vehicle highway” stretching from New Mexico to Montana.
Speaking in Denver to a meeting of the 110-year old National Governors Association, which also represents the leaders of U.S. overseas territories such as Puerto Rico, host Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado said Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming would join his own state to create “a north-south electric vehicle corridor” stretching from the Rio Grande to the 49th parallel.
The seven states’ regional electric vehicle plan would cover more than 5,000 miles of highway, including north-south Interstates 15 and 25, and east-west Interstates 10, 40, 70, 76, 80, 84, 86, 90, and 94.
Among other initiatives, the states will work together to create common “voluntary minimum standards for EV charging stations, including for interoperability”, “incorporate EV charging station infrastructure into planning and development processes, such as building codes, metering policies, and renewable energy generation projects” and, where possible, “collaborate on funding opportunities to support the development of the Regional Electric Vehicle West EV Corridor.”
“With more than 20,000 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids already on the roads in western states, the electrification of these major corridors is expected to reduce range anxiety and drive further adoption of EVs, while transforming the market to allow smaller communities to plug into the regional system,” the governors said in their announcement.
