The push to provide charging stations for a slew of new electric vehicles will help create Seattle jobs (Click here).
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently awarded $1.32 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to the State of Washington. The funding will be used to bolster the state's electric vehicle infrastructure.
The state Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce are working to implement the country's first "electric highway" along Interstate 5, which will offer an initial network of electric vehicle recharging stations available to the public along the interstate.
"Washington state is a leader in creating green jobs, adopting new clean technologies and we are poised to do it again with electric vehicles," Gov. Chris Gregoire said. "Providing the nation's first true electrified highway (I-5) will benefit Washingtonians and show the rest of the country how we can use innovative partnerships to solve some of our most difficult challenges like climate change and our dependence on oil."
This effort will make Washington the first state to have a border-to-border highway offering fast charge technology. The electric highway will support several new plug-in electric vehicles scheduled to roll off assembly lines in the coming years.
The technology will allow drivers to travel the length of the state between Washington's borders with Oregon and Canada. It is expected that about 300,000 electric vehicles will be on the state's roads during the next 10 years.
The electric highway concept is part of the EV Project, a $230 million effort to deploy a total of 4,700 electric vehicles and about 15,000 charging stations in five states, including Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona and Tennessee, and the District of Columbia.
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