Tennessee awards $21M in federal funds for EV chargers

Tennessee has awarded $21 million in federal funds to build electric vehicle charging stations in the state.

Of the 167 applications from 23 applicants, Tennessee will award 10 of them grants to build 30 new charging stations across the state.

Tennessee will be receiving $88 million in federal funding over five years for the project. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program requires companies match with at least 20% of the federal funding.

Private funding amounts to 32% of this portion of the grants, making the total investment $31 million between federal and private funds.

The fast-charging stations are required to be located every 50 miles along the federally designated Alternative Fuel Corridor, within a mile of the corridor and have a minimum of four charging ports.

“Tennessee has been home to the automotive industry since the 1980s and those automakers are growing electric vehicle manufacturing,” Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Butch Eley said in a statement. “With these federal dollars, Tennessee is investing in its future and paving the way to lead the nation as an EV epicenter. We want to ensure that drivers in any vehicle can safely get across the state from Mountain City to Memphis.”

The funding comes through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. TDOT said that it hopes to have the EV charging stations active within two years.

"Today's announcement builds on the Administration’s promise to deliver a national network of 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030 – a goal we’re on track to achieve,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in a statement.