Frank Piccolo’s Post

I love seeing this blue wall of funding for the West Coast, because it speaks to a long journey of learning in the industry and is a testament to how far we've come. If the funding for Oregon seems high (it's a high EV adoption state, but more middling on overall population), it's due to the extraordinary early build-out of charging infrastructure here. In fact, when I moved back to Oregon in 2018, it was hard to find a CCS charger--most of the original charging network was CHAdeMO, because it was built back when Nissan was the only OEM producing BEVs at scale. That's changed over the past 6 years thanks to Oregon Department of Transportation rebuilding the West Coast Electric Highway and organizations like Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, Tesla and Electrify America adding new sites, but we still have a lot of legacy (read: old and broken!) equipment around here. That's true in California and Washington as well--hence the blue wall. It's encouraging to see the federal commitment to updating old charging sites, and the industry's response. We know so much more about how to manufacture, install, and maintain chargers than used to. New sites and new EV drivers are benefitting from this knowledge, and with this funding we can bring older sites up to par as well.

Georgia is set to receive 112 new EV charging ports at the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center to support the swiftly growing federal EV fleet. This exciting investment further underscores the federal government's commitment to #electrification. Electrification Coalition

Georgia is set to receive 112 new EV charging ports at the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center to support the swiftly growing federal EV fleet. This exciting investment further underscores the federal government's commitment to #electrification. Electrification Coalition

Well the good news is these articles are the furthest from the truth. As we know, Rome wasn't built in a day - and neither are charging stations especially when tied to competitive procurement and rulemaking. Additional good news, states are taking action. Bridges are not built in a day, neither are highways, however State DOTs across the nation are accelerating their pace on distributing the funds for EV chargers that have been allocated by the federal government. Not to mention, this is a five year program, and State DOTs are still in the first phase of funding allocations. Looking forward to the news articles next year about the 1000s of chargers built by the efforts happening today. https://lnkd.in/etzjYumd

Yesterday, the Department of Transportation announced $623 million in grants for EV charging infrastructure. Part of the infrastructure bill, the grants will fund 47 charging infrastructure projects representing 7,500 ports across 22 states and Puerto Rico. As EV sales surge, charging infrastructure is struggling to keep up, and we need many thousands more fast, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective charging solutions to bridge the gap to make widespread electrified transportation not just a luxury, but the status quo. DG Matrix is excited to play our part in solving the electrification challenges of today while creating a better future tomorrow. #infrastructurebill #evcharging #electricvehicles #electrification #nevi #bil #evci #evse

Come to our EV Policy day on Nov 8. Register at this link https://lnkd.in/e6ss3J-Z What will happen November 8, Policy Day? On November 8 starting at 12:00pm, in addition to our ride and drive event we will have industry experts on hand to tell you more about electrification in the afternoon. Welcome and Introductions, Pamela Foster, SunTrax Strategic Development Manager, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise (12:05) Pamela will provide you with a digital tour of the SunTrax facility and welcome you to one of its first events. EVs to Scale2030, Britta Gross, Director of Transportation, EPRI (12:15) Britta Gross is the Director of Transportation for EPRI. Britta will discuss the challenges of getting to scale (widespread electrification), how to speed up grid interconnections to support vehicle charging and how the fleet industry and utility industry can collaborate to address these challenges. Permitting, can it Be Consistent? Alisha Lopez, Clean Cities Director (12:55) Alisha is the Clean Cities Director for the South Florida Regional Planning Council. She recently completed a study on permitting Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI) for Drive Electric Florida. You will hear about her findings surrounding the permitting process for EVCI Public Charging Networks as a Solution for Fleet Owners, Oscar Rodriguez, CEO, NovaCharge (1:35) Oscar Rodriguez is the CEO of NovaCHARGE, a Florida based corporation with extensive experience in charging infrastructure. He will discuss options, OCPI and using public charging for fleet vehicles. Why Now? How to Maximize Funding for Fleet Transition, Matthew Stephens-Rich, Director of Technical Services, Electrification Coalition (2:30) Matt Stephens-Rich, Director of Technical Services at the Electrification Coalition, will cover and highlight currently available federal funding programs for use by fleets. Matt oversees the development of tools and resources at the EC to help fleets efficiently navigate best fit for EVs and charging. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represent once-in-a-lifetime federal funding opportunities across competitively-awarded grant programs and tax credit incentives for vehicles and charging. Matt will cover programs and incentives most pertinent for fleet managers, focusing on how to navigate and file for maximizing funding savings. Q&A will also be open for participants to ensure that event experts answer pressing questions. When the Rubber Meets the Road: Lessons Learned by Fleets in Transition, Steve Shur, Vice President Government Affairs EV Strategy, Hertz; Jonathan Ford, City of Orlando; Doug Jamison, Program Administrator, LYNX; James Boyle, Director of Planning and Development, LYNX; Brian Frye, Supervisor Fleets, OUC (3:10) Listen to those who have been there and done that. Learn from the best on what to do and more importantly what not to do as we embrace this new transition to electric vehicles.

The Federal Highway Administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program offers $5 billion in grants for the purpose of creating a network of 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030. Per the recent Q1 2024 NEVI progress report, the US has more than 170,000 public charging ports created as part of earlier public and private efforts. Since the NEVI program was enacted, 33 states have released program solicitations, and 16 of those have awarded contracts to install new ports. NEVI significantly enhances the $2.5 Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, also included in the 2021 infrastructure act, which is meant to add EV and alternative fuel upgrades to rural communities and hubs. However, progress on installation of new chargers is frustratingly slow, and to date only three states have successfully completed any NEVI-funded charging port installation projects. NEVI has broad support from manufacturers and state governments, but without measurable progress for the EV charging network, national lawmakers may eventually seek to amend the program and direct funds elsewhere. Read more here https://lnkd.in/eM-zE5am #clean #energy #ev #policy

IDOT is issuing a Call for Partners to inform IDOT’s application for FHWA’s next round of competitive funding for the US Department of Transportation's upcoming Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Corridor program. This competitive federal grant program supports the buildout of charging or other alternative fueling infrastructure along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors (AFCs). Public sector applicants to the Corridor program are required to contract with a private entity for acquisition and installation of publicly accessible EV charging infrastructure, or hydrogen, propane, or natural gas fueling infrastructure that is directly related to the charging or fueling of a vehicle along designated AFCs. Potential partners include private companies such as medium and heavy duty fleet operators and providers of medium and heavy duty vehicle charging and fueling infrastructure as well as non-profit organizations, municipalities, and others interested in the Corridor Program. Please note that this is not a competitive procurement. If IDOT’s application is selected for funding by FHWA, IDOT will conduct a competitive procurement for acquisition, installation, operation, and maintenance of charging stations in compliance with federal and state procurement rules. Partners identified through this Call for Partners may be asked for additional information during CFI application development. Interested stakeholders should review the IDOT Call for Partners announcement as well as USDOT's 2023 CFI NOFO. Responses are due to DOT.DriveElectric@illinois.gov on June 11, 2024 by 5:00 pm Central Time. https://lnkd.in/g-jgk-r8

$623 million for EV charging from the Department of Transportation was announced yesterday, with funding coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. EV sales are going 📈📈📈, and charging infrastructure is struggling to keep up. In terms of EV charging, we need MORE of a lot of things: - MORE stations - MORE reliability - MORE efficiency - MORE DERs to provide clean, reliable energy - MORE speed / power I'm excited for the role that DG Matrix is playing in bringing MORE to all of these areas with LESS material and emissions. #evcharging #evci #bil #nevi #electricvehicles

Breaking News! New York State just announced the installation of its first Federally-funded National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) fast-charging site. Many have been waiting for this moment. Ohio also just announced its first official deployment a couple of days ago with EVgo. In the coming weeks, I'll be driving to this site and randomly testing to see if each station at the site performs as advertised and intended. In my opinion, especially given how new the charging stations are, it will be unacceptable if even one charging station doesn't perform as intended. It's time to see if years of work in developing the NEVI program and countless hours of advocacy about reliability/uptime have paid off. The spotlight is now on the Biden-Harris Administration and Electrify America (in this case). Will every station at the site work as intended, be simple to initiate charging, and provide me the stated peak power as advertised or will NEVI-funded stations face the same issues as the public EV charging stations before it? Let's find out! https://lnkd.in/eE_rYPkB #NEVI #EVcharging #electricvehicles #charginginfrastructure