In Utah, there may not be a use case or density of EV ownership to support charging close together to alleviate range anxiety and provide redundancy. So a gadget is stepping up.
Rocky Mountain Power announced Wednesday that it will install DC fast chargers at 20 locations in Utah, with support from Electrify Commercial, a unit of the Electrify America charging network that provides charging hardware for devices business and commercial fleets.
The plan calls for 80 individual chargers at 15 locations in the Salt Lake City area, with five more in other parts of Utah, according to an Electrify America press release. Each location will have a minimum of four individual chargers, with speeds up to 350 kW. The first sites are scheduled to open in 2024 and will be located in Salt Lake City, along the Wasatch Valley Front, and in Moab.
Utah Expressway
These chargers will be owned by Rocky Mountain Power, but will be displayed on Electrify America’s network map. The utility will also set a price, but customers will be able to pay the fee using the Electrify America app, just like other stations on the network.
Rocky Mountain Power is seeking federal funding from the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program for the project, but bidders will pay the bill for any station. does not meet the requirements for that funding, a spokesperson confirmed to Green Car Reports.
Each state has submitted a NEVI plan in August 2022, showing how they plan to spend any funding received from the federal government. If approved, Utah will split a portion of the funding to Rocky Mountain Power for this project. The Ministry of Transport is also creating a sixth round of Alternative fuel corridor (AFC), providing another avenue for infrastructure financing.
Electrify America charging station at Love’s Travel Stop
Biden administration earlier this year outlined rules that all chargers and charging locations must comply in order to receive NEVI funding. The rules dictate that chargers be spaced 50 miles apart along designated corridors, with all DC fast chargers using the CCS format currently used by most non-Tesla electric vehicles.
There’s no statement from the federal government as to how many stations it takes to reach the 50-mile distance, but one study pegged it at about 1,100 stations.
