WASHINGTON — Virginia is seeking proposals to install more electric vehicle charging stations, and will pay for it with part of the $93 million the state received as part of the Volkswagen settlement over the car company’s emissions-cheating scandal.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a request for proposals to deploy what officials see as an interconnected, statewide, electric vehicle charging network, with $14 million in funding from the VW settlement to pay for it.
The state has a goal of reaching an electric vehicle adoption rate of 15 percent by 2027, or about 1 million electric vehicles on the road within the next decade.
The request for proposals “offers an exciting opportunity for the private sector to partner with the commonwealth to drive greater deployment of electric vehicles in Virginia and I am pleased that we will be able to utilize funds from the Volkswagen settlement to support this project,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement.
“By providing the charging network citizens need to move quickly and at long distances throughout Virginia, we will make certain that electric vehicle travel in the commonwealth is seamless,” he said.
Volkswagen is required to establish a $3 billion environmental mitigation trust as part of its settlement with states. Virginia is expected to receive $93.6 million from the trust, and is allowed to spend up to 15 percent of that on an electric vehicle infrastructure.
Virginia already has 100 Direct Current fast-charging stations across the state.
Responses are due by November 6, 2017.
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