Customer Experience

Community, business leaders urge support for EV charging

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June 3, 2020

The best way to increase proliferation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure throughout the U.S. is through private sector investment by businesses that currently serve the motoring public, a coalition representing cities and communities across America and tens of thousands of off-highway businesses, including truck stops and travel centers, convenience stores, restaurants, hotels and blind entrepreneurs, said Tuesday. The groups specifically noted that permitting EV charging stations at interstate rest areas would discourage such investment and thus be counterproductive, according to a press release.

NATSO, along with the National League of Cities, National Association of Convenience Stores, Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, National Restaurant Association, National Federation of the Blind, National Retail Federation and Asian American Hotel Owners Association, asked lawmakers to promote investment in America's infrastructure and design policies that attract private sector investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

NATSO earlier this year unveiled a partnership with ChargePoint to create a National Highway Charging Collaborative. The Collaborative will deploy charging at more than 4,000 travel plazas and fuel stops in the next decade to significantly increase access to charging as EV adoption accelerates.