The Arkansas Department of Transportation is providing nearly $15 million to help facilitate 19 different electric vehicle charging stations across the state. The funding comes from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. However, this $15 million is just the first portion of the funding. Over the course of 5 years, the state will be allocated more than $54 million solely for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. ARDot spokesperson Dave Parker said they put out the call for applications for this funding back in 2023.
“We received about 120 applicants,” Parker said. “They are private business who wanted to set up these charging stations. And thus, we awarded 19.”
Despite more than 100 applicants not being approved, Parker said nearly all of those applicants can expect approval down the road.
“I don’t think anyone who applied this time and was not selected is ineligible,” Parker said. “I’m sure they received some instruction as to why they did not get selected. Just like with any bid process, they’ll go back and assess what they could have done better, and once the application cycle reopens, they can apply [again.] We were pleasantly surprised that we had 120 applicants, that’s a fairly robust number. It just shows the interest not only in electric vehicles, but in electric vehicle charging stations.
Aaron Pinedo is a senior engineer with ARDot, and he says the way they decided which proposals to approve was based on several criteria.
“They have to be on the interstate or an alternative fuel corridor,” Pinedo said, “every fifty miles, and one mile from the interstate.”
The criteria is set by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, or NEVI, to help states build a network of 500,000 charging stations across the United States.
“The goal of the program is to solve for interstate or inter-city time sensitive public charging,” says Pinedo. “For example, if I'm here in Northwest Arkansas, and I want to travel to Colorado to Denver. That's what the NEVI program is trying to solve for. If I'm traveling throughout the country, there is a network for me to charge my vehicle.”
The 19 applicantsare dispersed across the state, ranging from Texarkana to West Memphis, Blytheville to Siloam Springs, and 15 other stops off the interstate in between. Looking at the list you might be confused why the only northwest Arkansas applicant approved north of the Bobby Hopper Tunnel is on Highway 412 in Siloam Springs. Pinedo said that’s intentional.
There's a NEVI compliant station at a Walmart at the Pleasant Grove [exit] on I-49,” Pinedo said. “It's not part of the program, because they will need to opt in. If you want to be part of the infrastructure or the network of NEVI, they have to opt in to report data. Since we're focused on gap areas, that's why we did not award any in this part of the state. There does need to be redundancy on the network. And so that's another kind of area that we need to work on as redundancy throughout our network and that will make sense here in Northwest Arkansas and other areas in the state.”
But first, the priority is to fill the gap in those 50-mile increments. One final observation about the applicants who have been awarded so far: the businesses who were awarded the funding. Some usual suspects were included, like Love’s Travel Stops and Pilot Travel Centers. But the list also includes 3 different Cracker Barrel restaurants along I-40 and a Holiday Inn in Blytheville. Pinedo said one of the criteria was the availability of amenities, which is something these facilities do have.
“Across the country, some NEVI projects are being awarded at shopping centers and hotels,” Pinedo said.
The money provided for the proposed projects will require 20% to be covered by the developer, and the grant funding will reimburse the remaining 80%.
